Queen of Hearts
by August Rhapsody
Summary: Ginny's convinced she likes Harry, but she soon finds that her heart has a mind of its own. But does she also have to deal with her brother's tangled love life, another boy who wants her love, and a frighteningly jealous Pansy? D/G. *COMPLETED*
1. No luxury of nice chapter titles for you

Queen of Hearts  
  
Disclaimer- Hmm.let's see. Am I J. K. Rowling? NO! Wow, I bet we didn't expect that coming.these things are so stupid. Oh well, too bad for little Claresies over here.  
  
Authors Note- (a/n) Ah, yes, finally I'm posting a fic! Yay! Ah, let's see. I love Draco/Ginny fics, so I'm supposing that's what this will be. Not much else to say. Tata! Enjoy! Oh, and don't forget to review, please please pleeeaasseee!! And I write really long chapters, just warning you.  
  
Chapter One  
  
Virginia Weasley sighed with content as she sat back into the plush, scarlet seats of the Hogwarts Express. She felt that familiar lurch of movement underneath her, as the steam engine surged forward. Slowly, the uneven rumblings of the train blended together as it sped away from platform 9 ¾, picking up speed. Ginny unlatched her trunk and pulled out A Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five from it, as well as her wand. She opened it up and began to read. She had read the entire thing already, a few days before, but she could never be too prepared for what her fifth year of Hogwarts would bring.  
  
Suddenly, Ginny heard voices from outside her car, getting louder as they neared her. Listening intently, she immediately identified the voices as being those of three of her closest friends, one of which was her brother.  
  
The compartment door slid open and in the doorway stood exactly who she had expected to come in- two boys, and a girl. The first boy, her brother, was tall and gangly, all arms and legs, with fiery red, almost orange hair and an explosion of freckles, giving him an extremely young appearance. The girl beside him was about a head shorter, with lots of bushy, brown curls that fell to the center of her back. Her nose was snub and her eyes were glittering with excitement at the moment. Beside her was another boy, just a bit taller than the girl, but not by much. A messy mop of black hair topped his head, and round glasses hid brilliantly green eyes. And on his forehead was a scar; it was in the shape of a lightning bolt. It was the scar that made him different from so many other children, and incredibly famous, for that matter. At the moment, the redhead and the girl were bickering loudly.  
  
"For Gods sake, Hermione, what do you expect me to do? Just completely give up the sport? Just let our team continually lose so that I'd be kicked off as captain and chaser? I'd never do that!" He waved his free arm around him dramatically, his other one occupied by pulling a large trunk and owl cage behind him.  
  
"Certainly not, Ron! I never said to do that, I just think you really should devote more of your time to doing schoolwork and not devising Quidditch strategies every five seconds." She suddenly paused, as her eyes fell on Ginny. They widened and her face split into a grin. "Ginny! We didn't see you here! Can we come in? All of the other compartments are full." Ginny didn't answer, because upon seeing his little sister, Ron had begun heaving his trunk in and stowing it away. Apparently he presumed she wouldn't have any objections.  
  
It took the three sixth-years a while to put away all of their things, and the two empty seats were occupied by owl cages; one for Hedwig, Harry's snowy female owl, and the other by Pig, Ron's owl that he had gotten in third year. Sadly, the stupid little feather-ball's energy hadn't lessoned in the least, much to Ron's annoyance.  
  
"Ooh, good job Ginny, I see you're reading ahead in your course books," Hermione said, nodding in Ginny's direction as she settled into her seat. She was sitting next to Ron, and immediately picked up Ron's hand and began examining his fingers. "Ron, you need to cut your fingernails, they're much too long, and you'll scratch the hell out of anybody."  
  
Ron snatched his hand away and shot her a loathing look. "I think I can handle my own personal hygiene, thank you very much," he snapped. He then turned to Harry, who was sitting next to Hedwig's owl cage, which was in between him and Ginny. "So, do you reckon we'll beat Ravenclaw again? That was a really close match last time." The two of them soon became deeply immersed in Qudditch talk again, much to Hermione's dismay. So, she started conversation with Ginny.  
  
"Gin, you don't think we'll have another ball again, do you?" she asked, wrapping one of her many brown curls lazily around her finger, as she stared out the window at the beautiful country scenery flashing by them. Ginny sighed.  
  
"I certainly hope not. Last year was downright pathetic, me going with Neville again. One ball was enough, with him treading on my toes and giving me terribly sloppy kisses on the nose." She shuddered and closed her book, returning it and her wand to her trunk. Hermione smiled apologetically.  
  
"Last year was all right.at least we had had a year of practice. I'm surprised Dumbledore thought it to be so fun that first year, so much that he decided to do it again. Oh well," she said, sighing wistfully. "At least I won't worry about having to find a partner," she said lovingly, sliding her arm through the crook of Ron's. She leaned against him and snuggled close. Ginny saw Ron grinning out of the corner of her eye, though he was still talking animatedly with Harry.  
  
Ginny felt jealousy rise in her chest once again, as she watched Hermione lean up and kiss Ron sweetly on his cheek. He smiled and turned down to face her, running a hand through her curls. He whispered something, and turned back to Harry. Whatever he said had made Hermione laugh and blush.  
  
Oh, how they were so lucky. Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley- the perfect couple to everyone (except Malfoy, of course, who was bitter about everything). The year before, they had been horridly awkward with each other, and when the time for the ball finally came, Ron, stuttering and blushing furiously, had asked her to go with him. Hermione had been all to glad, of course; she had squealed flung herself onto him and kissed him full on the lips. Clearly, that was a 'yes.'  
  
Harry had wrenched up his courage and asked Cho Chang, a sixth year that he had clearly fancied since third year, or so Ron said. Cho had said yes, of course, and Harry had returned to the Gryffindor common room that night absolutely ecstatic with glee, dancing about and telling everybody that would listen that he was sure she was secretly madly in love with him. And that raised another topic. Ginny's affection for him.  
  
From the moment Ginny had seen him five years before on platform 9 ¾, when he had so politely asked how to get through the barrier, Ginny had thought him as an attractive boy, but hadn't thought twice about it. It wasn't until the year after, when she actually went to school with him that she fell head-over-heels for him. It was lucky, perhaps, that her brother was his best friend, because she got to see him so often. But in her mind, that just meant she just got to embarrass herself twice as frequently.  
  
What she saw in him, her friends didn't know. Ginny saw a gallant, brave boy who repeatedly put himself in danger; once, to save her. She saw someone who was intelligent, innocent and yet strong, with emerald eyes that sparkled with he laughed with Ron or Hermione. She saw a passionate boy who was orphaned as a baby, lived with horrible Muggles and who Voldemort was out to kill, but still, he did his best to be nice to others.  
  
The train lurched suddenly, jerking Ginny out of her thoughts. She looked around the compartment hurriedly, and noticed that she must have been daydreaming for longer than she thought. Hermione was curled up with her head in Ron's lap, sound asleep. Ron was staring blankly out the window, the scenery reflected in his clear eyes, his fingers toying with Hermione's hair gently. Harry was leaning against the wall, tapping his knee with his fingers, his eyelids drooping. At once, Ginny knew why everyone was so tired.  
  
The night before, in the Burrow, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione had stayed up long past midnight, celebrating. Mrs. Weasley was out, and what they were celebrating about, no one knew, perhaps they had just wanted to laugh and drink butterbeer and go absolutely wild for hours on end. There had been violent games of wizards chess, people flying over the house on broomsticks, and lots of things exploding, due to Fred and George's practical jokes. Fred and George were out of Hogwarts, and had saved the one thousand Galleons that Harry had given them at the end of their fourth year, and had started a joke shop- Wesley's Wizarding Wheezes in Diagon Alley.  
  
Ginny felt the train slow down, and looked out the window. The sun was setting, drenching the sky in a deep inky purple as the glowing orange ball inched slowly behind the dark trees. Finally, the express came to a slow and silent halt. Ginny stood and pulled her cloak from her trunk; she had changed into her Hogwarts robes just after she had come onto the train. Hermione, Ron and Harry groggily did the same, fastening the black material securely at their throats.  
  
The sharp, icy air whipped Ginny's hair and cloak back as she stepped out of the car. Shivering, she looked around for some of her friends, with whom she could sit in the horseless carriages with on the way to the school. She saw none. Sighing heavily, the usual heavy feeling of lonesomeness settling on her heart like a weight, as she watched Harry, Ron and Hermione walk away, Ron with his arm tightly around Hermione, who was laughing. She shrugged and trudged behind the loud, chattering crowd towards the carriages. Suddenly, she heard someone calling her name. She turned around, her hair whirling in her face, to see Emma Peters running towards her.  
  
Emma was one of her few friends. She was a fourth year Gryffindor, with thick and bouncy dark curls that went only above her shoulders. Her eyes were big and brown, she was short and had a very small amount of freckles that dusted the top of her nose. Ginny grinned to see her.  
  
"Ginny! Finally I found you! I was looking all over for you in the train.oh, here's an empty carriage, hurry, Ginny," Emma said, grabbing Ginny's hand and pulling her into a carriage. The small lamp dangling from the ceiling swung violently as Emma stepped into it, with Ginny close behind her. They were about to shut the door when they heard someone yelling, "No, stop!" They opened it wider to see Morgan Fetherton crawling in.  
  
"Morgan! How are you?" Emma cried gleefully as Morgan shut the door securely behind her. She sat down next to Ginny and brushed her straight black hair from her face.  
  
Morgan was a Gryffindor fifth year, like Ginny, and was another of Ginny's friends. She was a tall, thin and pale girl, with brilliantly blue eyes and straight, raven-black hair that fell to the small of her back. Her hair was usually in braids, swung behind her shoulders.  
  
"Oh, just fine, thanks," Morgan said, smiling around at the two girls. "I hope you two have had a just fabulous summer," she said brightly. Ginny tried to return the enthusiasm.  
  
"Yes, just spiffing, with Ron and Hermione running around hand in hand everywhere, kissing each other's cheeks.goodness, no matter where I went, I couldn't get time to myself! I went into my room to see the two lovers at it, ravishingly making out on my bed!" She grimaced, quite unhappy. Morgan frowned and turned to Emma, who looked just as lost.  
  
"Oh, Ginny, we're sorry.maybe you can." She was cut off, because the carriage stopped abruptly, and the door swung automatically open. The three girls crawled out, and gazed up, still mystified at its beauty, at the front doors of Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 


	2. Chapter Two, though slightly sluggish

Disclaimer- *sighs heavily* I don't own any of the characters, I don't pretend to. Sic no lawyers on me.  
  
Authors Note- Another chapter for you. Horray. And if you were wondering where Draco comes in, don't worry, he'll make his swaggering appearance some chapter. Haha, no, really.  
  
Chapter Two ~ (I'd just like to make it clear right now that you're not going to get the luxury of nice chapter titles. sorry, but I'm a tad lazy at the moment. :)  
  
Ginny watched, amazed though she had seen it four times previously, as the huge wooden doors of Hogwarts swung open and the crowd of students was enveloped in light. She felt someone push on her back, and she rushed in, Emma and Morgan at her sides. They made their way into the Great Hall, pushing and shoving against the mass of people behind them. They hurried over to the Gryffindor table and, after choosing three seats together, sat down and looked towards the teacher's table.  
  
As usual, Professor Dumbledore was standing in the center place of the long table, wearing magnificent robes of a deep plum rimmed with gold, his pointed hat with a golden tassle hanging from the end. His hands were clasped and his eyes twinkling as he watched his pupils talking loudly and settling themselves comfortably at their house tables.  
  
Ginny was startled to feel someone poke her shoulder, and looked over abruptly to see Ron, Harry and Hermione. She sighed. Honestly, who else did she expect?  
  
"Can we sit here?" Harry asked politely, beckoning to a few empty seats next to Ginny and her friends. Ginny felt herself blush, but nodded all the same. Hermione took the seat next to her, Ron on her side, and Harry next to him. They began chattering excitedly. Ginny turned to her right, where Morgan was sitting. Emma, who always ate a lot yet never gained any weight, was rubbing her stomach, looking at the golden plates expectantly.  
  
"Ooh, I'm so hungry, I wish they'd get a move on with the sorting."  
  
"Emma, they haven't even started yet. Look, here come the first years now," Morgan said, beckoning behind them as the doors swung open once again. Professor McGonagall, wearing the usual black, led in a line of young students, all of whom looked extremely cold and shaken. Like usual, Professor McGonagall waved her hand at a three-legged stool, on which sat a very old, ugly, shabby hat. Ginny sighed. Yes, it was always nice to hear the hat's clever song, which changed every year or so, but it got tedious after a while.  
  
Finally, the hat's song ended, and the sorting began. "Abingdon, Melissa!" was a thin blonde girl who was shaking considerably as she made her way up to the hat. It took a few moments, but finally, Melissa became a Hufflepuff.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"My, that food was delicious! I could eat it all day," Emma remarked, pushing her golden plate away from her, which was now strewn with the remnants of a huge feast. Ginny nodded as she stuffed a forkfull of steaming mashed potatoes into her mouth. The sorting was over, as was Dumbledore's start-of-term speech, which was quite silly, as always. When they had sung the Hogwarts song, Ginny felt a strange pang of homelessness, remembering how Fred and George would sing to a slow funeral march.  
  
Dumbledore made a few last remarks, before sending everyone off to their dormitories for bed. The Gryffindors followed an older boy whom Ginny didn't know, obviously a prefect, through the hallways and up a few staircases. Finally, they reached a portrait of an extremely fat lady in a pink silk dress. She was wearing a rediculous matching pink hat, and was fluttering a dainty blue fan in her face, which didn't match her clothes at all.  
  
"Lovely decor, really," said the prefect. The Fat Lady smiled as she crooned for the password. "Pheonix feather," he said, and the portrait swung open. Everyone crawled through the hole and entered into the cozy realm of the Gryffindors.  
  
Ginny, Morgan and Emma made their way into the girls dormitories, and went through a doorway labeled 'fifth year girls'. As usual, their things were already put next to their huge, four-poster beds. Emma grinned and flopped onto her bed.  
  
"I do love it here," she remarked, staring up at the designs on her deep red canopy. "It's like my other home. Goodness, compared to my real home, I'd choose Hogwarts any day." She sighed heavily and rolled over onto her stomach. Suddenly, the door opened again and another girl entered.  
  
"Oh, hello," she said, with not a hint of welcome in her voice. Her name was Celia Bronswood, and with her attitude, everyone was suprised she got into Gryffindor at all. "This room is so small," she said airly, sitting daintily down on her bed and looking around. Ginny's jaw dropped. Small??  
  
"Oh for goodness sakes, it's not small! It's huge, certainly large enough to accomodate four girls!" Morgan cried protectively. Celia smirked.  
  
"It might be huge to you, but to me? Ha!" She snorted. "This is about as large as my closet." She stuck her nose up in the air and turned around. "Goodnight, you three. And don't wake me up in the morning. I made a charm for myself to wake me up at precicely the right moment." And with that, she changed into her nightclothes and crawled into bed. Ginny glared at her.  
  
"She's lying," Morgan whispered to her friends. "There's no such charm, and I know for a fact that her family lives in a small flat in London." Her eyes flashed dangerously over to the sleeping form on the opposite bed. "I hate that girl," she said flatly, and went over to her bed to change.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
That night, Ginny lay in bed, fingering the soft sheets delicately, staring off out the window. She watched as an owl flew gracefully across the glowing moon, it's silhouette dark and eery. She sighed heavily, wishing that at that very moment, she could have wings. But that was impossible. Wishes never came true.  
  
Not knowing why she wasn't at all tired, Ginny listened intently for sounds of the other girls sleeping. She heard a low snore from her left, soft wheezing from her right, (which she knew was Emma) and just then Celia groaned and turned over in her sleep. Smiling softly to herself, Ginny grabbed a robe and wrapped it around herself, and tiptoed slowly to the door. She snuck silently down the spiraling stars and entered the Common Room. Looking around, she noticed it was empty, until her eyes fell on a dark form on the couch. Creeping towards it, she noticed who it was at once.  
  
Ron was lying on his back, (fully clothed) sound asleep, his head propped up on a pillow. On his stomach, (fully clothed) was Hermione. She was curled on top of him, one of her legs dangling over the edge of the couch. His arm was lying protectively across her back, and every time he breathed, one of her curls fluttered, coming dangerously close to tickling his nose.  
  
Ginny made her way over a large, fluffy red armchair in front of the fire, which was dying down slowly, the golden flames still lazily licking at the brick hearth, the shadows dancing across the rug in front of it. She returned her gaze to the sleeping couple and frowned in disgust. Why she was so disturbed by seeing them like that, she didn't know, she just didn't like it. Perhaps it was the fact that she was on top of him? No, she thought, shaking her head. They were fully clothed, for goodness sakes. Was it that, perhaps, she was jealous?  
  
Ginny sighed and looked away. Yes, that was it, and she knew it. Her greatest wish at that moment was for Harry to come rushing of his dormitory, sweep her up in his arms, and carry her away to some unknown place. She smiled at the thought. But then...Cho.  
  
Oh, how Ginny wanted to kill her. What an interferrence she was! Yes, she was a kind, beautiful, intelligent girl, but she had stolen the heart of the man she wanted! Ginny felt tears sting the back of her eyes, as she thought of how Harry would never want her. She shut her eyes, remembering...  
  
**Flashback to the year before**  
  
Harry rushed into the Common Room, his eyes glittering and alight with happiness, his hand on his heart. Anyone with a brain could see that love had taken over his common sense, for his glasses were dangling from one ear.  
  
"Hermione! Ron! Guess what?" He cried, flinging himself onto a chair and grinning, staring up at the ceiling.  
  
"What? What!" Ron cried, staring at him. Harry looked at his friend and his face widened into an even bigger grin (if that was possible).  
  
"I asked Cho to the ball, and she said," he paused for effect, but anyone could see what was coming. "YES!" he shouted, leaping to his feet. "She said yes, she said yes! Horray! Ron, she said YES!" Ron, of course, was happy for his friend, as was Hermione. Harry began dancing Hermione around the common room, who was laughing. Everyone seemed to pleased, even Fred and George rushed up to congragulate him. Everyone, that it, except Ginny.  
  
No one saw Ginny sitting in a corner, watching Harry dancing with glee, his disoriented glasses forgotten. No one saw the tears that filled her eyes and spilled down her rosy cheeks. No one heard her sob hysterically that night, the noise muffled by her pillow. Anyways, she didn't expect anyone too. After all, she was just Ginny.  
  
**End of flashback, and story**  
  
Well, chaps, that was the end of the second chapter! If you've come this far, REVIEW for goodness sakes. Yay! Thank you very much. Hope you liked it. Flame it, praise it, whatevah. But pleeeez review it. Mucho Thankso!  
  
~BlondieChild 


	3. Chapter Three, with a little Draco at th...

Disclaimer- If I was J. K. Rowling, I'd be a rich, blonde British lady, who owned all of these ingenious characters. However, I'm not, I'm sorry. I know you're all disappointed. Put away those books now, I can't sign autographs. You'll have to get the real J. K. to do that.  
  
Authors Note- Yay! Thanks everyone for the reviews, you guys rock!! I feel so loved when I get review emails! Ha, doesn't everyone? I thought so. So.on with the sappy story! Yes, and I know Draco didn't appear in the second chapter, so sorry, really. He'll come in, don't you fret your pretty little heads over it!! Perhaps, even, in this chapter!  
  
Chapter Three  
  
The sunlight slanted violently through the glass windowpane of the fifth-year Gryffindor girl's dormitories. It coincidentally landed directly on the face of a certain girl, lighting up her brilliantly red hair like fire. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them, blinking lazily. Then she sat up.  
  
Ginny rubbed her eyes, seeing little red dots in the blackness of her eyelids. Blinking furiously to regain her full vision, she rolled over to look at the time on her clock. 7:30. Oh good, she thought. That's enough time for a shower before breakfast and first class.  
  
Sliding out of bed, Ginny looked around. Two of the other three beds were empty. She turned around to see Morgan standing in front of the large mirror, humming, braiding her long black hair into tight braids that flopped behind her shoulders. Morgan grinned as she saw Ginny's reflection in the mirror, and turned around.  
  
"Good morning! My, don't you look awake," Morgan said sarcastically, winking and giving Ginny a hug. Ginny groaned and squinted her eyes, staring at the girl she saw in the mirror.  
  
"Mmm, I better take a shower. Ugh, my hair looks awful," Ginny remarked, running her fingers through her hair. She made her way over to the bathroom, her feet dragging on the stone floor. As she entered the bathroom, she noticed that Emma was brushing her teeth. Ginny started the water, waiting for it tog get warm. "Hurry up, Emma, I'm taking a shower," she said.  
  
Emma spit loudly into the porcelain sink. "No, I wouldn't have guessed. Well, be patient, I'll be out in a second." Ginny sighed and tapped her foot impatiently until Emma had finished gurgling and gave her a mockingly annoyed look. Then she left.  
  
After Ginny had finished her shower, she strolled out into the room, fully dressed, a towel still wrapped around her hair. She waited for a little while, making her bed, until she decided her hair should be dry. Tugging off the towel, she grabbed a brush and began working the bristles through her hair. It was tough work, trying to deal with the heavy locks that she had. It took a while, but finally, Ginny's hair was smooth and straight, and almost completely dry. Ginny stared at her reflection.  
  
Ginny didn't see what she wanted to see. She didn't see the tall, elegant, graceful girl she had hoped to become, because of her childhood figure. Instead, she saw someone who was short, had lots of freckles and annoyingly red hair that gave people the impression that her whole head was on fire when she blushed.  
  
The fact was, Virginia Weasley wasn't ugly. Nor even close, for that matter. Yes, she was short, considerably shorter than most of the other people in her family. She was about 5'5", and held herself up to her highest extent to seem taller than she really was. Her hands and feet were small, but not 'stupidly' small, 'petite' small. She was thin, but not like a stick; at least her legs and arms were in proportion (Ron, unfortunately, wasn't this lucky). Her hair was a different story.  
  
Ginny's hair was long and red; not orange, like Ron and Percy's, but a deeper red, almost a copper color. It was straight until it reached her shoulder blades, at which point the ends curled. It was lovely. Her face was cute and round, her nose was snub and lightly covered with a dusting of freckles. Her cheeks were always rosy and easily flushed, and her eyes were deep chocolate brown, hidden by dark lashes. The skin all over her body was creamy, like the color of ivory, covered in barely-noticeable freckles. If one looked upon Ginny for the first time, just standing there with her hair softly tumbling around her shoulders, they would see someone who looked sort of like a red-headed pixie.  
  
Ginny left the Gryffindor dormitories and Common Room, and made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, lugging her school bag. She decided to bring all of her books, for she didn't know which ones she would need and which ones she wouldn't.  
  
"Oh, there you are, Virginia, we were wondering if you had fallen asleep," Morgan said, piling bacon onto Ginny's plate. Ginny glared at her.  
  
"Thank you for the 'good morning.' No, I did not fall asleep again, and please don't call me Virginia," she said, picking up a scone and biting into it. Morgan sighed and apologized.  
  
"Here are our schedules," Emma said, handing Ginny a piece of parchment. Her eyes scanned the list. 9 o'clock, Transfiguration. 10:30, Charms, then lunch. 1 o'clock, Defense Against the Dark Arts, 3 o'clock, History of Magic. Ginny looked at the rest of the week's schedule, then compared with Emma and Morgan. They had almost the same schedule, except Ginny had signed up for Arithmancy (a/n- someone please tell me how to spell that word, I have no idea!) and Morgan and Emma hadn't.  
  
"Oh, joy, neither of you signed up? Why not? Hermione told me it was an excellent class," Ginny said despairingly, eying their schedules. The two girls shook their heads.  
  
"Nope, sorry," Emma said.  
  
"Then again, Hermione thinks every class is excellent," Morgan noted thickly, her mouth full of sausage. Ginny sighed. Oh, what a wonderful year this was going to be.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Welcome to Arithmancy," (a/n- help! Please!!) Professor Vector said, standing in front of the class. She was an elderly woman, but Hermione had been right, she was extremely kind, and had excused Ginny when she was late without taking any points from Gryffindor.  
  
"Whew, that was close," Ginny whispered from the corner of her mouth to Hermione as she sat next to her in the seat that had been saved. Ginny looked over and saw that neither Ron nor Harry had chosen to take this class. Good, she thought. Now Ron can't distract Hermione and keep up with that annoyingly insufferable flirting.  
  
"In this class, we will be studying numbers. Numbers have a subtle magic of their own. There will be no wand-waving in this class, I'm sorry to say. I don't give too much homework, but that doesn't mean that you can slack off in this class. With numbers, you must." Professor Vector continued in this manor for a while, her loud, clear voice cutting through the dreary room. Hermione was sitting bolt upright, an expression of rapt attention on her face. Every so often, she would scribble some notes on a piece of parchment on her desk. What there was to take notes on about, Ginny didn't know. At least this class gave her some time to think.  
  
The day had gone relatively well, mostly because of Emma and Morgan. The three of them had sat together in each class, each answered a few questions right and awarded Gryffindor a few points. Lunch had been a nice affair, lots of laughter, and Ginny even sat with Harry, Ron and Hermione, for a change, because Morgan had dropped a whole bottle of ink on the floor on their way to the Great Hall, and she and Emma had made the long journey back in the opposite direction to the Gryffindor tower to replace it. Ginny thought they missed lunch.  
  
However, the annoying thing was, Ginny felt as though someone was watching her. Not in class, and not really in the hallway, but at breakfast, and lunch, too, she felt an odd sort of pressure, like someone's eyes were boring into her head. She asked Hermione and Ron if they could tell if anyone was staring at her, and immediately Ron got defensive of Ginny, standing up and looking around the entire room.  
  
"I don't see anyone, Ginny," Ron said. Then he sat down and looked her square in the face, his brown eyes serious. "If this keeps happening, tell me. I don't want someone staring at my sister. Man, if I find them, I'll rip their goddamn-"  
  
"Ron!" Hermione had cried shrilly. "Stop it, Ginny can take care of herself, she's fifteen! Calm down, she'll tell you if this persists."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco Malfoy's eyes lazily scanned the Great Hall that same morning at breakfast, looking for Crabbe or Goyle. Neither of his stupid sidekicks were in sight. Sighing, Draco settled himself back down at his usual seat at the Slytherin table.  
  
"Ooh, Drakey, who were you looking for?" Pansy Parkinson crooned, sliding her arm through his and inching herself close to him. He forced a smile as he looked down at the stupid blonde.  
  
"No one, it doesn't matter. Ouch, Pansy, get off, please. You're hurting me," he lied. But he would do anything to get away from that slut. Oh yes, how he hated Pansy. And yet she followed him around like an annoying blonde shadow, chattering away about stupid things like the color of her nails, and whether she should change it to red, to make her look more sexy (seriously, folks, that's what she talked about).  
  
But Draco was preoccupied. When he looked around, his silver eyes had fallen on an extremely red head. At first he thought it was the boy, the stupidest Weasel who had somehow managed to get a girlfriend. How, he didn't know. But then he saw that this redhead was considerably shorter, as though someone had stepped on it. And he noticed that its hair wasn't orange, it was actually red. Then, he realized it was the youngest Weasel. Gino, or whatever her name was.  
  
Draco snorted. "Gino. Who would name a girl Gino? Well, leave it up to the Weasels to think of the stupidest names possible. I mean, Perky, for goodness sakes. And it was a boy, too!" he cried aloud. Pansy giggled and snuggled closer to him, much to his dismay.  
  
"Gino? I don't know, that is a stupid name. Weasel? Oh, Drakey, it's not Gino," she said, laughing her horrible ditzy, high-pitched laugh. "It's Ginny. Yeah, Ginny Weasley, that's it. And it's not Perky," she laughed again, making Draco cringe. "It's Percy. Stupid name, if you ask me. But you didn't, did you?" She laughed again. How she found that funny, Draco didn't know, but his first instinct was to get as far away from this drooling slut of a pig as fast as he possibly could.  
  
"Ha, ha, no, I didn't ask you, did I? Sorry, Pansy, I have to go," he muttered. Quickly pulling his hand from her grasp, he darted from the Slytherin table and off to the Great Hall doors.  
  
~*~*~*~*~ SORRY, THAT WAS A SUCKY CHAPTER! Well not really, it was just boring. *sigh* sorry, I'm really sorry, I'll do better next time. Next chapter, I believe, will draco and ginny collide. yay!  
  
For the reviews- Oh dangit I don't feel like telling everyone thank you. Thanks to Olive, Alli, UglinessRox55, (lol I love the name) Chriz, demoreign, Polar-zephyr, (you ROCK! I love your review! Yay thank you I love you!) and Faxton, you rock too. THAT'S IT FOLKS, FOR CHAPTER THREE! MORE TO COME! YAAY! 


	4. Chapter Four, finally

Disclaimer- Urg. None of the characters you recognize here belong to me. Emma, Morgan and Celia do, though, because I had to make up names because you know, Harry and Ron never witnessed the sorting in their second year.  
  
Authors Note- Okay, folks, a fourth chapter. I realize that the third kind of sucked, how it was extraordinarily uneventful, but hey, an authors gotta do what an authors gotta do! Thanks for all the reviews- luv ya guys! Oh, and I believe Ginny and Draco will finally meet (not romantically, no way, not yet) in this chapter- who knows? Not me! Review!!  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Ginny Weasley pushed the glass door open and entered the crowded room, letting the warm, sweet-smelling air envelop her. The place was mostly full of Hogwarts students, but there was a good handful of goblins talking in hushed voices in the corner, and what looked like two hags were huddled together, bent over some parchment, whispering frantically, their green fingernails scratching the table unpleasantly. The Three Broomsticks was always fun, a good place for friends to meeft and gossip.  
  
"Hurry up, get a seat!" Emma cried, pushing Ginny's back. "Over there, in the corner. Oh and look, there's Celia and her crowd." Ginny looked over to see Celia and her clump of friends standing around, pointing and giggling at a gaggle of fifth year boys. She snorted in disgust.  
  
"Typical," she scoffed. "Morgan, can you go get us some butterbeers? After that, I think the joke shop's worth a visit." Morgan nodded and rushed off through the crowd to get the beverages. Emma and Ginny settled themselves into their seats and looked around. Ginny's eyes fell on Harry, Ron and Hermione at a larger table in the center of the room. Hermione was laughing hysterically at something Ron had said, so hard that tears were pouring from her eyes. Ron was staring at her, half bewildered, half amused, at her reaction. Harry was sitting across from Cho. They were smiling and chuckling, sipping their butterbeer. Ginny suddenly felt oddly sick.  
  
"Here you go- oh, sorry Emma, I'll clean that up," Morgan said, sloshing butterbeer onto the table as she set down three glasses filled with the creamy liquid. Snatching out her wand and muttering a spell, the mess vanished and Emma took her glass. The three of them sat silent for a moment, slurping at the foamy drink. Emma suddenly gasped and pointed at the door. Ginny and Morgan looked over.  
  
Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin cronies were entering the Three Broomsticks, all with smug and superior looks on their faces. At once, Ginny felt a surge of natural hate for the leader of their little clump, Draco. His piercing silver gaze raked the room, and his eyes fell on the three girls. Ginny saw something flash in his eyes. Was it amusement? She dreadfully hoped he wouldn't march over and begin insulting her, just for fun. Unfortunately, that seemed to be what he had on his mind.  
  
He strode over, Crabbe and Goyle at his heels, the other Slytherins scooting off through the crowd to save a table and get some drinks. Draco's usual smirk donned on his pale features, his eyes looking Ginny up and down. Ginny felt herself shiver involuntarily. Why was he staring at her like that?  
  
"Are you sure you can afford that drink, Weasley? Wouldn't want to sell any of your belongings just to get some mediocre butterbeer like everyone else? Why, is it the cheapest?" Ginny felt her face redden but forced herself to stay calm. She glared up at him.  
  
"Go join your little crowd of sluts over there, Malfoy. Or, are they even your friends? I doubt it, because I've never seen you together, only you with your little stalkers. Why, you haven't made a friend in six years? I'm amazed," she snapped coolly, her brown eyes flashing. Draco's smirk only increased, but at that moment, a high-pitched wail cut through the air. Actually, it was someone speaking.  
  
"Drakey! Oh, Drakey! Come over here, cutie pie, I made a special drink for you! And I saved you a seat. Aren't I just the devoted girlfriend, Drakey?" It was Pansy, who had stood up and was shrieking across the room in her scratchy voice. At this, Draco's smile vanished as Emma, Morgan and Ginny snorted into their drinks and began to laugh. He marched off, his robes billowing behind him, hitting quite a few people in the heads.  
  
Emma burst out laughing at his retreating back, and Morgan soon joined in. Ginny tried, but something was stopping her. She stared at the back of his blonde head, thinking. He had changed, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Sure, his insults were the same unoriginal ones he had used for six years, but he seemed more mature. More adult. How, she had no idea. He was just the same old Draco to the untrained eye, but Ginny was a natural-born people-watcher.  
  
"Gin? You okay?" Morgan asked quietly, looking at her friend. Ginny shook herself from her temporary trance and forced a smile.  
  
"Yeah, sorry, I must be more tired than I thought. Hey, I think I'll go into the joke shop, Fred and George said they wanted to meet me there. Yeah, okay.. Um, see you guys later," she said quickly, standing up and rushing out the door. Emma goggled at her, eyebrows raised.  
  
"Is she mad?" she asked Morgan, who looked equally confused. "Fred and George graduated last year!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Something is terribly, terribly wrong, Draco thought as he slowly drank an expensive drink that Pansy had tried to feed him in a spoon before he pointed out that he was sixteen and could manage on his own. Now Pansy was leaning on him, laughing at something Blaise Zambini said, trailing her red-nailed finger across Draco's arm (yes, she decided that red would make her look more sexy, after all. Unfortunately, it didn't).  
  
"Goodness, you're being so quiet, Drakey! Is something wrong?" Pansy crooned, peering intently up into his face. He found himself frowning down at her, and jerked his arm from her grasp.  
  
"Look, sorry Pansy, I have to go." He stood up abruptly, making Pansy lose her balance and clutch the table. She stared at him with her dull brown eyes.  
  
"But.what about." She whimpered stupidly. Draco sighed heavily and looked about the table. Hardly anyone had noticed he was leaving. So, he turned and marched from the Three Broomsticks, his high mood seriously dampened.  
  
But what had done it? Why did he suddenly feel so odd, like someone was playing with his mind? He heard a voice in his head, a voice he recognized, but couldn't place a name on it. And he saw a face, a pretty face, surrounded by red hair..Ginny.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ginny sighed with loneliness as she climbed the steps to her dormitory. She had no idea why she so abruptly left Hogsmeade, probably leaving her two friends wondering what they did wrong. That Saturday wasn't getting along too well. First of all, she spotted Harry and Cho walking down the hallway, hand in hand, towards the library, probably going to get a little 'studying' done. And then, Hogsmeade wasn't that much of a great trip, either. They had visited the Quidditch shop, but hadn't really found anything interesting in there, and then Honeydukes, and stocked up on candy. But the Three Broomsticks hadn't exactly been the highlight, thanks to Malfoy.  
  
She grabbed her bag and a few rolls of parchment, and traipsed down to the Common Room. She might as well do a little homework, so tomorrow would be free. She chose a larger desk and dragged it over towards the fire, her body still a little chilled from the vicious wind outside. She pulled out her Herbology book and some ink and quills. She had to write a huge essay on three of the most dangerous plants in the world, why they were so dangerous, and how they became famous. Professor Sprout had decided to focus one semester on highly dangerous plants. One of these, of course, was the Mandrake, because of its fatal cry, but they had already learned about those years ago.  
  
She began to write, her quill pen making scratching noises against the dry parchment. She soon became immersed in her essay, as she often did, and found that she had written two rolls of parchment without taking a break. She smiled with satisfaction as she read over what she had written. Very professional, she thought.  
  
"Ginny? Oh there you are! Where'd you go? You just ran off like that, and I seriously doubt you even went to the joke shop. What's wrong?" Emma cried, racing through the portrait hole and towards Ginny. Ginny forced a smile when she saw Morgan rushing in behind her.  
  
"Erm-no, I didn't, really, I was on my way when I remembered I had to do this essay, and thought it better to come home and do it now." Morgan stared at her.  
  
"Gin, it's a Saturday. You don't have to do it now, just do it tomorrow, like Emma and I always do. You've been acting really strange. What's up?" Ginny frowned, capped her quill and began rolling up her parchment.  
  
"I don't really know, Morgan. I'm sorry, I guess it's just the whole.. Schoolwork thing."  
  
"But it's never effected you before. Ginny, if you're not going to tell us what's wrong, we're not going to keep on pestering you," Emma said, trying not to sound annoyed. Ginny actually smiled.  
  
"Yeah, thanks. Nothing is wrong. If it were, I would tell you. I think my mood just got sort of weighed down from Malfoy. He always wrecks my day." She stuffed her rolls of parchment into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "I'm going to go to dinner now, I have to drop some things off at McGonagall's before, though, so it'll be a minute. See you guys there," she called, trying to sound cheerful. And so she rushed out of the portrait hole, her bag banging painfully against her back.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco couldn't get her out of his mind. Oh, how he hated her. Was it just his natural malice towards her that made him not able to forget the hurt in her eyes when he insulted her? But she had taken it sportingly, saying something quick and witty in return and laughing when that Parkinson wench had embarrassed him in front of everybody. No, he shouldn't feel bad. She probably talked about him behind his back. So, why shouldn't he be mean to her? It was perfectly respectable. After all, she was a Weasley.  
  
But her face, her eyes..Draco snapped his head up and looked around, remembering that he was in his own dormitory. He was a prefect, and his father had paid extra money for him to have his own room. It was just after the end of the trip to Hogsmeade, and he had returned to the Three Broomsticks after his pointless wandering outside. It was nearly time for dinner- perhaps he would see her in the Great Hall. Well, obviously he would, but perhaps he would have the nerve to talk to her.  
  
Again, Draco shook himself. What was he thinking? Talk to the youngest clone of the entire Weasley population? He'd rather dance across the Great Hall naked, singing a Muggle song than do that. No, he was being stupid. She just annoyed him so much that he couldn't forget her cute little face. Cute?? Where did that come from?  
  
"Oh, God," Draco said aloud, not really caring who heard him. Yes, he could tell that this Ginny would be harder to forget than most others.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- Hmm...if you liked that story, I'd love to hear all about it, so please review! Thanks sooo much, luv ya all, 'specially polar-zephyr, you rock! And alli, and olive, though her reviews sometimes dont really have anything to do with my story. And Faxton and a buncha other people. Thanks!! ~BlondieChild, aka Clare 


	5. YES! What you've all been waiting for!

Disclaimer- Only Morgan, Emma and Celia are mine. Nothing else belongs to me.  
  
Authors Note- Ah, a fifth chapter! I know you're all positively bouncing with glee. Hope you liked the fourth one, and their little encounter. Want another one? Read on! Oh, and I know this is sort of late, but in the first chapter, I said that Emma Peters was a fourth year. She's not; she's a fifth year, and some of you might have noticed that mistake. Sorry. Yes, and this chapter will be long, deal with it. But PLEASE read until the ending, you'll be surprised, and you'll like it, believe me. Don't give up halfway through the damn chapter.  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Draco Malfoy drearily opened his eyes, squinting as sharp rays of sunlight momentarily blinded him. He attempted to roll out of bed, but realized with a jolt of horror that something very heavy was lying in his arms. He yelled and yanked his arms away, toppling off of the bed. He leapt up, trying not to look too mussed, and saw whom it was who was lying in his arms. Pansy Parkinson. He groaned and clapped his hand to his forehead. What was she doing in here? Or was his memory just not as awake as the rest of him was?  
  
"Mmm..Draco? Oh, there you are, I was wondering why it got cold so suddenly." She sat up and kicked the black sheets away, running a hand through her blonde hair and peering around the room. "What's wrong? Why'd you jump away like that?" Her pug-like face turned up to him, filled with concern. And then his memory flooded back to his brain. Oh, yes, now he remembered. Now he remembered her awful giggles filling the air.  
  
"What did we do?" he asked, still quite horrified. Pansy grinned.  
  
"Oh, not much, really. You seemed a little bored and fell asleep. Sorry if I wasn't keeping you occupied enough.." She fingered the sheets, looking down at them, as if in shame. Draco's jaw dropped.  
  
"I-we..what? No! That's not possible! Get out of here, Pansy!" He found himself shouting, not really knowing why. She had spent the night with him a few times before, and he hadn't really had a problem with it. Why was he suddenly reacting so strangely? She rolled her eyes.  
  
"All right, all right, let me get my clothes.." She heaved her way out of the bed and ambled around the room. Draco noticed with a sigh of relief that she was still wearing a black slip, and apparently, some underwear underneath it. And at least he, too, was wearing his boxers.  
  
Pansy, with a handful of things in her arms, hurried out of the room. Draco flopped back down on the bed as the door shut quietly behind her. Then, reaching over to his bedside table, he pulled open the drawer and took out a piece of parchment and a quill pen. The piece of parchment was very plain, but had numerous tally marks on it, dates, and a lot of different girls names. You see, Draco kept track of all the girls he got into his bed. It was all a game to him and a few other Slytherin boys. Girls didn't matter, they were just there, little giggling machines, only a few of which actually had brains. He made another tally mark and scribbled some more things on it, then tucked it away again. Then he stood and began to get dressed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
The same silvery eyes scanned the Great Hall later at breakfast, as he strode across it, towards the Slytherin table. His gaze fell on the awful trio of Gryffindors- Potty, Granger and Weasel, who were bent over a piece of parchment, talking hurriedly and pointing. He snorted, and noticed another red head. Heads as red as that were rare, now that the older twins who tried their entire life to be funny yet failed terribly had graduated. He paused a moment, studying the person, and realized that it was Ginny. Yes, the same Ginny that had been plaguing his mind for the past day. Oh, how he hated her.  
  
He made his way over to his table, still watching her. He watched as she stood, slung her bag over her shoulder, and walked towards the door. He watched as she smiled and waved to someone, and then laughed, her brown eyes sparkling. He watched as she slipped her slim, curvy figure through the doorway, her red hair sliding across her back as she moved. He watched as the door shut behind her and made a vague realization in the back of his brain that she was intoxicating.  
  
The day passed slowly, too slowly for Draco's liking. The classes were boring, he sucked up to Snape and earned a few extra points, and made Granger cry, just to laugh and see the angry look on Ron's face as he passed, his expensive robes flying behind him, just to make the brat feel worse about being poor. And yet, there was always Ginny.  
  
Twice he saw her in the hallway, walking with two girls, her bag slung over her shoulder, and twice he stopped in the middle of his way to class just to watch her, squinting his eyes until someone bumped violently into him, giving him a jolt back to reality. It was terrifying, for him, to realize that he couldn't get a girl out of his head. In class, he kept picturing the look on her face when he insulted her the other day, and he felt awful. Because of this, he knew something was wrong. Never did a Malfoy feel bad about insulting someone or making him or her cry. And yet, deep in the pit of his stomach was a knot that tightened increasingly whenever he thought of her innocence, the way she laughed, (which he had rarely heard, but was sort of hallucinating and imagining what it sounded like) and the way her body moved when she walked or ran to give someone a hug. And yet, he hated her.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Blonde hair on that handsome head, those silver eyes. Tall, strong body. High, aristocratic cheekbones. Pale skin. That deep voice, that annoying smirk on those lips, the sparkle in his eyes.  
  
Ginny shook herself, snapping back to the present and away from her daydreams. She looked around her, trying to remember where she was, and realized that she was in History of Magic class. It was her last class of the day on a Tuesday afternoon. Oh, joy. At least she was slightly permitted to fall asleep in that class, no one really listened anyways, as the ghost's voice droned on and on, oblivious to the drooping eyelids and elbows slipping off the end of desks. It seemed that Professor Bins worked his hardest to make his class boring, as though that was some accomplishment to have students fall asleep and then fail his class. Perhaps that was his idea of fun.  
  
Ginny's mind wandered back to where it had been previously venturing, daydreaming of Draco Malfoy. She had been thinking of him for a few days now, and wasn't at all surprised when these were her thoughts. He certainly was handsome, she couldn't deny that, but at the moment he was just plain pissing her off, by always being there, in the hallways, in the Great Hall. She had the sense that it was him who was watching her, and she secretly wanted to stare at him back, but that would be too obvious. No, she wanted to be inconspicuous.  
  
That day, again, she had seen Harry and Cho in the hallway. Luckily, they didn't have their classes together, because of their difference in year, but this was worse. Harry and Cho were having a grope fest leaning against a wall, snogging passionately. Ginny was utterly disgusted, and pretended not to notice, but Harry unglued his lips from Cho's and greeted her cheerfully, as though nothing that wasn't natural was going on. However, though disgusted, Ginny didn't feel that usual sinking feeling of jealousy when she saw them. She had expected to, but no such thing happened. She didn't feel angry that Cho was there making out with her man, she didn't become terribly lonely all of a sudden, as she usually did. And, with a slight jolt of panic, she realized that perhaps she was getting over him.  
  
No, that wasn't possible. Virginia Weasley was supposed to love Harry, like that was what she was there for. Everyone knew about it, it was just a given fact that Harry would always have a little redheaded admirer wherever he went. That's why it scared her so much that perhaps she didn't love him as crazily as she used to.  
  
"Miss Weasley, why aren't you taking notes?" The sudden question snapped Ginny from her second daydreaming trance. She looked around hurriedly, noting that everyone else was scribbling furiously on parchment, their sleepy looks suddenly replaced by ones of concentration. She mumbled an apology and unraveled a sheet of parchment and uncapped a quill. She peered over on to Morgan's paper, and began to copy her notes, seeing as she hadn't really been listening at all, as Professor Binns continued on with his droning speech.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
That evening, Ginny crawled in through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor Common Room and immediately looked around. Everything looked relatively normal; a few girls were curled up on the couch, chattering, while a group of boys were sitting nearby, clearly trying to figure out what the girls were talking about. She noticed Emma and Morgan sitting in some of the good armchairs, near the fire, talking with some other boys from their year. Ginny made her way over to them and let her heavy bag slip from her shoulder and fall to the ground. She flopped into the space that Emma made for her in her chair, which was plenty large to seat the both of them.  
  
"Hullo, Ginny," said a boy, who was sitting cross-legged on the carpet. Ginny recognized him as being Will Johnson, a kind, smart boy who was always courteous to the girls. He played Chaser on the Gryffindor team, and was one of Ron's favorite players, because of his skill.  
  
She smiled cheerfully around as her greeting, noticing who else was surrounding them. There was John Ferguson, a tall, handsome boy, and then two other twins, Daniel and Thomas Anders, both of whom were thin and blonde and rather hyper.  
  
"Where have you been, Ginny? After dinner, you sort of just disappeared," Morgan complained. Ginny noted with a smile that Daniel was staring at Morgan with a look of awe on his face; everyone knew that he had fancied her since the third year. Quite a few times had they gone to Hogsmeade together.  
  
"Oh, sorry, I had to run an errand for Professor McGonagall," she said, stretching her legs out in front of her. Emma raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Goodness, you seem to do a lot of favors for her, don't you?" Thomas said, and she knew that his perverted little mind was thinking of other 'favors' than the usual. Ginny grinned.  
  
"Yes, she asks me quite frequently, and gives me extra points when I do them. Sending messages, dropping off books here and there. She's a teacher, for goodness sakes! It's not like I'm going to refuse," she added exasperatingly, seeing the looks on everyone's faces.  
  
Daniel suddenly coughed, and it sounded a lot like "Suck up." Ginny rolled her eyes and looked around the room some more. Her gaze fell on Harry and Ron, who were sitting together, obviously quarreling. Ron looked very angry, and Harry was talking to him hurriedly. Immediately, Ginny knew something was wrong. "Where's Hermione?" She asked Morgan. Morgan sighed and her pale brow furrowed.  
  
"Oh, she and Ron got in a terrible fight this afternoon. It was so strange, I've never seen them so mad! Well, yes, I have, but that was a few years ago. Ron yelled at her really loudly, calling her a name, I think, and she ran off crying. We're pretty sure she's gone to the library." Ginny clapped a hand to her mouth, eyes wide. Everyone was looking sober- it was amazing how a fight between a couple that was seemingly meant for each other could dampen spirits so.  
  
"Goodness, should I go look for her?" Ginny cried. Emma shrugged.  
  
"Sure, I think she'd like that. You're one of her best friends, Ginny. She'd listen to you. And after that, you can persuade Ron to apologize. After all, you are his sister. You're in a lucky position," Emma said, looking at Ginny seriously. Ginny jumped up and nodded. She walked towards the door swiftly, throwing a poison-filled glance at Ron as she passed him.  
  
She walked quickly through the empty hallways, shivering involuntarily, though the air was anything but cold. She jumped up the stairs, two at a time, and picked up speed as she rounded a corner. Suddenly, she ran smack into something. Someone, actually. She shrieked as she fell backwards, landing on her bottom with a thud. She squeezed her eyes shut and put her arms out, and her palms slapped to the cold ground painfully. She took her time hoisting herself up, and looked to see who she had bumped into.  
  
Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. He was standing there, looking slightly shocked, staring down at her as she brushed off the seat of her skirt. His hair wasn't greased back as usual, but was tousled and flopped lazily onto the top of his head, which made him look all the more ravishing. His eyes widened as he slowly came to the realization that the girl who had been slowly driving him mad since a few days before was now standing in front of him. And they were alone.  
  
"Well, Malfoy, when you've finished goggling at me, would you so kindly move out of the way so I can continue on?" she snapped, glaring at him. Though her words were filled with resentment, her mind wasn't. She stared at him, as her heart began thumping wildly in her chest. She had only felt that way when she was madly in love with Harry, when he would smile at her across a room. Draco was scaring her.  
  
"Oh, sorry, my fault," he muttered quickly, and moved to let her pass. But Ginny stared at him, rooted on the spot. He rolled his eyes. "Now what, Weasel?"  
  
"You-you apologized!" she blurted out, still staring at him, her brown eyes wide. He raised his eyebrows.  
  
"So? Does that matter? I apologize when I slam into random girls in the hallway, though some of you might not." The truth was, he wasn't really thinking about what he was saying. He, in turn, was staring at her, as though seeing her in a whole new light. (He had been seeing her in a whole new light for a few days now, actually) "Oh," she said quickly, feeling herself blush. Why did she have to blush now, why? "Well then, I better be going."  
  
"Where are you off to, in such a rush?" he found himself asking, much to his surprise. Ginny actually smiled and put a hand on her hip.  
  
"To the library, in fact, to see Hermione. Or, Granger, as you would call her. She and my brother got in a terrible row today, and I'm going to see if I can help her. See? That's called friendship. I know it's a new- fangled thing to you, however, you might not know what it means." Draco grinned at her reply, and Ginny felt suddenly very nervous. His smile completely changed his face, from an icy-cold vicar to someone who actually knew how to laugh and smile, completely the opposite of what the name 'Malfoy' meant.  
  
"Well, well, aren't we tart?" Ginny raised her eyebrows. Was this his idea of a comeback? Certainly not. It couldn't be. Malfoy was wittier than that. But he wasn't really thinking at the moment, because he was being completely driven insane by her, the way she held herself, the way her hair curled at the ends, the way her cheeks were flushed and how freckles dusted the top of her cute little nose. And suddenly, Draco couldn't help himself.  
  
He leaned forward and kissed her. Draco Malfoy kissed Virginia Weasley. At first she was utterly shocked and began to protest, but after a moment she felt herself get lost in the kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her soft body a little closer to himself, and she smiled beneath his lips. The kiss was soft and sweet, not like the rough, violent ones she imagined him to give, according to his usual actions. However, just as the kiss was pleasantly intensifying, she pulled away. She extracted herself from his arms and stared up into his silver eyes, and felt her knees buckle. She couldn't do this, she couldn't kiss him. Though her heart was screaming inside her lungs, she felt deep inside of her that it was terribly wrong.  
  
"Goodnight, Draco," she whispered, and rushed past him towards the library.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- Ooh, I love cliffies! Ha! So there you go, told ya the ending was interesting! Well, not to fear, I'll update soon. But ONLY if you click the magical little button down there, the one that says 'go', and if you type some kind of praise (or not praise) into the little box that comes up. Then I'll love you forever. But you have to review! Thanks to y'all! ~Clare 


	6. Chappie Sixie

Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, 'cept for Emma, Morgan, Celia, Thomas and Daniel, John and Will, the other fifth year boys, but they aren't big characters.  
  
Authors Note- Hope everyone liked the fifth chapter. I sure did! Hahaha! I got lotsa reviews by people who didn't really like cliffies. So, I apologize profusely. (if that's how you spell it) and here's the 6th.  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Ginny trembled slightly as she made her way up another flight of stairs towards the library. He had kissed her. Draco Malfoy had actually kissed her, simple little Virginia Weasley. What did he see in her? Well, that didn't really matter, because inside she was ecstatic. The kiss had been everything she had imagined her first kiss to be, and though it wasn't necessarily with her true love, it was certainly with someone she was beginning to admire over the past few days. Ginny wondered why she hadn't seen anything in him before. Probably because he was a rude, insulting, cruel git who thought he was so superior, a voice in the back of her head said. She scowled and mentally pushed it away. If Draco actually had feelings for her, she would train herself to like him back, even if that meant leaving Harry in the dust. She shuddered.  
  
She entered the library and began to walk through the long aisles of books, looking here and there for Hermione. Occasionally she stopped and listened intently for any sound of sobbing, or life at all. Finally, she came out to a little area where there was a fireplace, and a bunch of black chairs, surrounding tables. This was a little area for students to do homework, or read books when their Common Room was too busy or noisy. There, huddled in one of the huge chairs, was a figure with lots of brown hair. Immediately, Ginny rushed over and put a hand on her shoulder. Hermione sprang up, a look of anger on her face, but it immediately was replaced by relief. Her big brown eyes were filled to the brim with tears, and they were gushing freely down her red face. She sniffed and wiped her nose on her hand. Ginny grabbed a chair and, with great effort, heaved it over nearer to Hermione.  
  
"Hey, 'Mione, what's up?" Ginny asked, trying not to sound like she already knew what had happened. She wanted to her Hermione's full story.  
  
"Ron-he..he said-when I said." and she melted into a fresh waves of tears again, concealing her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking with her sobs. Ginny raised her eyebrows. Goodness, this was worse than she thought.  
  
"Hey, it's okay, Hermione. Just tell me what Ron said, and I can yell at him for you. I'm his sister, after all." Hermione raised her face up to Ginny again and whimpered.  
  
"Well, when I came into the common room, he said I was cheating on him and.."  
  
"What? Why would he say that? Did he see you doing something, Hermione?" Ginny could tell she was annoying Hermione, but she didn't care.  
  
"No, I've been tutoring this seventh year Ravenclaw, his name is Robbie, you know, and Ron claimed that Seamus said that Lavender said that Parvati said that.oh, what the hell, someone said that I was, well, making out with Robbie. Which is totally not true!" she stuttered, flustered. Ginny knew Hermione wouldn't lie, so she let her continue. "So Ron confronted me and I told him that I would do no such thing, that I loved him more than anything, and he went on about what a liar and a." she paused, and Ginny knew that Ron had cussed at her.  
  
"It's okay, Hermione. So, Ron called you something you don't want to repeat here, I don't care. So, he fought with you, and made you cry. So?" Ginny regretted saying this as soon as the words were from her mouth. Hermione's eyes filled with tears again and her hands clenched into fists.  
  
"Oh, Ginny, you wouldn't understand! I love Ron, I really do! I would never do something like that, and Robbie just doesn't get Transfiguration, that's all and.Ginny, don't take sides here!" she shrieked. Ginny a finger to her lips, telling Hermione to be quiet.  
  
"I certainly do understand, Hermione Granger, don't you say that I don't. I love Ron too, he's my brother! And he has an awful temper and doesn't know how to handle his feelings, but if Ron finds out the truth, he'll feel awful and everything will be better again." Ginny, though she knew it was awful, secretly hoped that Ron never really forgave Hermione, just because she hated seeing them together, giggling and snogging in the halls. But she certainly wouldn't let Hermione know that.  
  
"Okay- well, I'll think of something to do, Ginny. I think I want some time alone now. Thanks for thinking of me," Hermione whimpered, curling back up into the tight ball that Ginny had found her in. Ginny sighed and stood, and slowly walked out of the library. And again, her thoughts wandered off to that kiss.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco stood frighteningly still in the hallway, watching Ginny's retreating back. (a/n- this is back to just after he had kissed her) What had made him do it? What freaky urge had driven him to kiss her, then and there, probably scaring her out of her wits? But she kissed you back, he reminded himself. Yes, she kissed you back, and she seemed to enjoy it.  
  
But that's when panic settled in. What if somebody found out? What if Ginny told everyone, and word spread like wildfire that Draco Malfoy had actually kissed a Weasley? Why, by the time it got back to him, the rumor would probably say that he had forced and raped her in a deserted dungeon or something awful. He shuddered, not wanting to think about it. But again, the haunting feeling clawed at his heart. He couldn't love her, he couldn't kiss her ever again. He couldn't take her to Hogsmeade, he couldn't sweep her up into a magnificent kiss after he won a fabulous Quidditch game. If he ever loved her, it would have to be forbidden. But why, a voice in his mind asked.  
  
Because she was a Weasley. She was the youngest member of the population that the entire Malfoy had hated and loathed for centuries. If his father found out that he actually kissed one of them, he might as well go commit suicide then and there, for there would be no point in living any more. And then..the ball. The Yule Ball, the third one since he had been at school at all, that was to be held on December the 23rd. And that meant, that if he and Ginny ever got somewhere, he could never go with her, because of what people would say.  
  
It was awful, the kind of life he had, how he had to uphold the position of being the youngest Malfoy heir. It was dangerous business, trying to keep his reputation perfectly balanced. Why, the tiniest mishap could bring everything for him crashing down. He shivered at the thought.  
  
Suddenly, Draco found himself at the wall down in the dungeons that was the Slytherin entrance. He muttered the password, barely audible, and the wall melted away, revealing a huge hole. Draco walked through it and entered his Common Room. It was crowded, as usual, and all the good seats were taken up. He wandered over to a plush chair in the back of the room and settled himself into it, looking around. Crabbe and Goyle were doing their homework on a desk, and Draco wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to them at the moment. Pansy was, again, painting her nails with a gaggle of sixth year girls. She giggled and held her hand up to the light, and Draco noticed with a frown that she had painted them a hideous, neon pink. (So much for the 'sexy' red) There was absolutely nothing to do, in this god- forsaken room full of complete dimwits. Not a soul was worth talking to. So, what was there to do? Sleep, of course.  
  
Draco climbed the stairs to his separate dormitory, and said the password to enter it. The room was dimly lit by a series of lamps, their flames burning continually until one said the spell to put them out. Apparently, the house-elves had been at work, for everything was spotless; the bed was perfectly made, the floor swept clean, his bureau polished. He groaned and pulled off his robes and changed into his t-shirt and boxers that he slept in. Climbing under the covers, he snuggled deep under them and grabbed his wand. Lazily muttering the spell to extinguished the magical flames, he set the wand back onto his bedside table and slowly, his exhaustion from the 'exciting' events of the day washed over his mind and he fell asleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- Sorry for the insanely uneventful chapter. I just thought that after the kiss, Ginny and Draco should have a chance to voice their thoughts. When I write stupid, short chapters like this one, I update soon. So dontchya fear, a seventh chapter is approaching! I don't care if you liked it or not, just review, please! I want a lotta reviews. That's my goal. How many, I don't know. But anyways, say what you liked, what you didn't like, just review, dammit!! ~Clare 


	7. Chapter Seven Don't we all hate Harry so...

Disclaimer- None of them are mine, 'cept the people who I listed earlier. They never were, they never will be.  
  
Authors Note- Yes, the sixth chapter was dull, forgive me, but that's why I posted it so immediately after the fifth. One day! Ha! Lord, I update soon! Thanks everyone for reviewing- you rock my socks! P'raps another little reunion for the two characters, but I'm not one to say anything. So, read on, cheerio!  
  
Chapter Seven (Don't we all hate Harry sometimes? Hell, I do.)  
  
"I'm going to generously give you exactly one hour to concoct this potion. When the hour is through, I want you all to bottle a sample. You will see in your books that the potion will turn a deep red when it is not touching oxygen. If your potion does not turn red, you have done something wrong, and I want you to tell me what exactly your incompetent minds couldn't manage. You may begin," Professor Snape drawled, his cold black eyes darting quickly about the dungeon, giving him a very paranoid look. He was teaching his sixth year double-potions class, with the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. At least that gave him a little chance to obviously favor his students.  
  
"Ah, no, Ron! Don't add so much flobberworm bile..oh, god, look what you did!" Harry's angry hisses weren't very loud, but Draco could hear them clearly and he smirked. Looked like Scarhead and Weasel weren't getting along too well.  
  
"Well, sorry! I'm not always the one who does stuff wrong, you know. Look, your slices of Blackroot are too thick. Fix them, Harry, if you're so perfect!" Ron snapped back, his freckled face redder than usual. Draco tried not to burst out laughing as he heard their pointless bickering. Usually, they were inseparable- one wondered how really close they were. But no, Granger got in the way of that possibility. He looked around for her, and saw her on the other side of the room, working with Lavender and Parvati. She looked as though she had been crying, another factor to heighten Draco's mood considerably.  
  
Extremely bored, he slowly chopped up his Blackroot and dumped the slices into his potion. It bubbled and frothed and turned a sick brown color. Crabbe and Goyle, his partners as usual, were trying to figure out how to get the fire beneath it to precisely the exact heat. Why, Draco didn't know, because the heat had nothing to do with the outcome of the potion. Perhaps this information didn't quite penetrate their thick skulls and reach their miniature brains.  
  
The class passed sluggishly, with Draco sighing frequently and peering around the dark dungeon, watching people as they made mistakes and laughing. Longbottom, being the pathetic dimwit that he was, completely forgot to add the shredded Yellow Lizard scales, and his potion promptly exploded, after he put in the flobberworm bile. The stupid boy got it all over his robes and they burst into flame. Draco couldn't help but laugh insanely as Snape charged over and squirted water all over him from his wand. He could have easily used an extinguishing spell, but Draco knew that Snape wanted to make as big of a fool out of Longbottom as possible. So, Neville had to clean up the mess in his sopping robes, and he looked terribly close to tears.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Whatchya doing?" A familiar voice asked Ginny in the Common Room that evening. It was a Thursday night, and everyone was looking forward to the coming Hogsmeade trip that Saturday. She brushed a strand of fiery hair from her face and looked up into the startlingly green eyes of Harry.  
  
"Oh, hello, Harry. I'm doing homework, as one might guess. Thomas did something stupid in McGonagall's class, she was offended, and took the liberty of piling a few essays on us." She snorted and capped her quill with a flourish. "Well, at least I've done one. Only one more to go!" A sarcastic smile graced her lips as Harry pulled a chair over to her desk. "Well, what's up?"  
  
"Oh, I just have a question to ask you." Ginny's heart rate quickened, but didn't become a violent pounding in her chest, whenever he usually talked to her.  
  
"And that question would be..?"  
  
"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend. Ron and Hermione will be going together, because he apologized and they're making up..or out, really, and I just thought..if you didn't have anything else to do, you would want to come with me." Ginny's eyes widened and she mouthed wordlessly for a moment, completely taken by surprise.  
  
"Well-erm, yes, I suppose, but-what about Cho?" she stuttered. Harry sighed and suddenly looked lonesome.  
  
"Well, she got sick the other day, with a terrible fever and flu. She was up all night throwing up, and I stayed with her. Madam Pomfrey said her illness would be easy enough to cure, but she would need a few days rest. She would be out on Sunday, she said."  
  
"Oh dear, that's not good. Well, do you have to go with someone every time? I mean, not that I don't want to go-" She blushed furiously and mentally cursed herself.  
  
"Well, I suppose not, I just thought that if someone else hadn't asked you.." Someone else? Who would ask her?  
  
"Of course, Harry. I'd love to go, that'll be fun. I'll tell Morgan, Emma and the other boys where I'll be." Harry grinned and stood up.  
  
"Lovely. Thanks, Ginny." And then he did something strange. He bent down and softly kissed her cheek, then walked off to where Ron and Hermione were talking, awkwardly. Ron was apologizing profusely for being so rude, and Hermione showed him forgiveness by kissing him sweetly. Ginny reached up and touched the spot on her cheek where Harry had kissed her. She didn't feel insane love burning in her heart, she didn't leap up and start dancing about because he had actually kissed her and asked her to Hogsmeade. Why, that was like her lifelong dream, and it had been for years. Why wasn't she suddenly giddy?  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco's eyes narrowed as he watched the Gryffindors walk across the grass towards Honeydukes that Saturday, and it felt as though an icy fist had grabbed his heart when he saw Ginny and Potter walking along beside each other. Ron and Hermione were together, too; apparently they had forgotten their little fight. He didn't know why he felt so awful when he saw Ginny's log red hair swirling in the wind, and when she threw her head back and laughed at something Harry had said. Suddenly, his desire to kill Potter was worse than ever. He beckoned for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him, and after a moment's hesitation, he swaggered into Honeydukes. He scanned the shop, seeing a good amount of Hogwarts students mingling around, gorging on slabs of chocolate or buying boxes of 'Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.' Finally he spotted the two couples and made his way over.  
  
"Well, hello, hello, who do we have here?" Draco drawled. "Scarhead, Granger, Weasel and Weasel Jr.- the four Muggle lovers. Of course, who else would I expect?" Ron looked up and his eyes flashed with anger.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here, Malfoy? We don't want you here." Draco laughed, his eyes sparkling with malice.  
  
"Language, Weasley. Watch that tongue of yours. No, I hardly expected you would." He looked down at Granger, who was clutching Ron's hand, her previous smile completely gone from her face. Potter looked his usual mad self when he was around Malfoy, but Ginny only looked uncomfortable. It was quite clear that she was trying not to meet his eyes, as her gaze lingered on some random students off in a corner of the shop, examining the prices of some sweets. She brushed a strand of hair from her face and Draco felt slightly sick. He sighed sarcastically.  
  
"Well, I can see that my presence here is most unwanted." He bowed, mockingly, his cold eyes never leaving Ginny's face, which was now reddening.  
  
"It most certainly is," Hermione snapped.  
  
"I'll bid a good day to you all," he said, flatly ignoring what the Muggle had said, and as he slid past Granger, he whispered 'Mudblood' in her ear. He watched with satisfaction as she quivered and sidled closer to Weasley. He, Crabbe and Goyle, (who had just stood there stupidly that whole time) walked over to a barrel and Draco reached in and pulled out a box of Jelly Slugs, and then another of some random honey-colored toffees just so that it didn't look like he had followed them in there just to talk to them. After purchasing the sweets, he stuffed them in his pockets and stalked out of the shop. He was walking towards the Three Broomsticks when suddenly Goyle poked him sharply in the back.  
  
"What the hell, Gregory!" he cried, turning around. Goyle pointed one of his thick fingers behind them, where Draco could clearly see a little red head bobbing through the tides of people. His jaw dropped. It was Ginny. "Vincent, Gregory, go away. Go into the Three Broomsticks and save me a seat. I'll be there in a minute." The two boys mumbled something and made their way through the crowd, their huge bulks easily making a large wake of space behind them.  
  
He turned and slid into a thin alleyway between two shops. The crowd was thinning slowly, and Draco stuck his head out from the alley and looked for Ginny. He saw her, clutching her thin cloak at her chest, looking around hurriedly. As she passed him, he reached out and grabbed her arm. She screamed as he yanked her into to the shadowed space.  
  
"Malfoy! What was that for?" She hissed. She stared up at him in the dark, and his silver eyes looked as though they were glowing. He smirked.  
  
"Scared you, did I? Well aren't you skittish. Well, you were following me, and I just shortened your trip."  
  
She frowned. "I was not following you, that would be stupid. Yes, you scared me, so what? Why did you pull me in here? I can scream and Ron will come running, you know."  
  
"Yes, that's very true, isn't it? Well, I don't exactly have a reason to think that you'll scream, when you so obviously kissed me back the other night." Ginny fell silent and leaned against the wall behind her. Draco's smirk widened, his eyes glinting once again.  
  
"Look, Malfoy, whatever that was, I don't know. It must have been a dare or something, because.."  
  
"However, you kissed me back. So apparently, you liked it." Her jaw dropped. "What? Where did you get that, Malfoy?"  
  
"You're not very good at lying." She glared at him. Oh, how she hated him, how she hated his awful attractiveness, how she hated the way he acted so superior, so intelligent, just because he was a prefect. Suddenly he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. A few white-blonde pieces of it flopped casually onto his forehead, giving him an extremely different appearance from when his hair was greased back. "Look, why I did that I don't know, I guess I just."  
  
"You were smitten by me." He stopped by this sudden interjection and raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Oh, Malfoy, you were completely smitten by me. You thought I was beautiful, some wonderful goddess or nymph come to grace your vision. You couldn't help yourself, Malfoy. You had been watching me for a few days, I could feel it, and I knew. I'm not that stupid. I may be bad at lying, and I may only be fifteen, but I actually have a brain in this red little head of mine." And with that she grinned, put her hands on her hips and stared up at his face, her brown eyes shining with wit and satisfaction.  
  
"Well, for your information, that is completely not true," he lied. He could feel his face reddening. "I don't know where you got that, Weasel, but you might think you're cunning and smart for making up that little speech, but.." Ginny cut him off, she didn't want to hear any more. She suddenly flung her arms around his neck, stood on her tiptoe, and kissed him on the lips. He wasn't very surprised, he had expected this, that she would fall into his trap, and he could brag about having an innocent little girl who was madly in love with him.  
  
He wrapped his arms around her waist and her slender fingers pulled a few strands of hair from their peroxide cast on the top of his head. They got to the point where the kiss had ended a few nights before, and she felt herself being completely lost underneath him. She pulled away for a moment and giggled, and he realized how very wrong this was. Ginny, Virginia Weasley was supposed to be an innocent little girl. Why, sure she was fifteen, but everyone pictured her as never having kissed anyone, never having really been liked by a boy. She was just sort of.there.  
  
He leaned forward and touched his lips to hers, this time, though she welcomed it with a smile. It lasted a fraction of a second before she suddenly yanked away from him, her eyes wide. She heard voices- familiar voices. Yes, it was Ron, Hermione and Harry. Gasping, she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him deeper into the alleyway. She couldn't really see where they were going and stopped when it was almost pitch black. It was a narrow space, so she was pushed up against Draco's strong body. He squeezed her towards him and felt her stiffen, so he let go. They listened in silence until the three laughing voices slowly lessened in volume and then were gone. She looked up into his eyes, and he could see that she didn't really like this situation. He forced a smile and she returned a real one, and then with a swish of red hair and black robes, she was off.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- A bit of snogging at the end there, hope y'all liked it. Sorry I didn't update for a while, (like a week, omg, so long) but I was doing tech for this play so we had tech week with rehearsals like all afternoon, so I didn't exactly have time to write. But I just went on a writing spree and wrote to the eighth chapter. So, whatever.  
  
Yes, anyhoo, review, please and the seventh chappie might come a bit faster. Oh, and whoever reviewed with just - :), thanks for reviewing but ah..if you're just going to do a little smiley, don't review at all, because that tells me nothing. Whatever, thanks anyways.  
  
~BlondieChild, aka, Clarae the Moron who dropped her boobashnicken the other day and was forced to kill the mutants, being the priest that I am. 


	8. Aaaand here's the eighth!

Disclaimer- I am not thy sacred Rowling queen, as one might have guessed, unless one is mental or high.  
  
Authors Note- Yay, thanks for the reviews, everybody!! Read on, children!! (Or adults, but I have some reason to doubt that adults really read these fics.) Oh, and goodness, I'm going to have to change the rating soon, won't I? To PG-13? Agree? Okay, sorry, enough delay! On with the chapter!  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
"Hush, Gin, be quiet. Dumbledore's about to speak," Morgan hissed across the table a few nights later at dinner. Ginny put her fork down, which was in the process of spearing a large portion of pork onto her plate and crossed her arms. Emma stuffed a few more spoonfuls of mashed potatoes into her mouth and chewed furiously, her cheeks full with the huge amount of food.  
  
Ginny peered up towards the teacher's table, where Dumbledore was slowly rising to his feet, his teal robes shimmering softly in the dimmed light. He held up his hands as a simple sign for silence, and the loud chatter of the Great Hall slowly lessened to a light buzzing. He smiled warmly down at them all, and began to speak, his voice slow and deep.  
  
"Fellow teachers and wonderful students; it is my deepest honor to announce tonight the coming of the Yule Ball, the third in Hogwarts history." He paused and his eyes glittered as whispers broke across the tables once again. "It will be held," he continued, "on December the twenty third. On your supply list for the start of the term was the item of dress robes, so I am correct in assuming that you all have something nice and respectable to wear." Noise broke out again, mostly from the girls who began excitedly talking about their dresses, but fell silent when Dumbledore continued. "We will not be hosting the Weird Sisters, for they were booked throughout that week, and I could not bend our school schedule to fit within theirs. I don't know the name of the band that will be coming, but I can tell you that you will all enjoy it. The ball will be from eight until midnight, at which point the Great Hall will be closed. The ball will also include a feast," he added.  
  
Ginny sighed and looked around; Daniel was eying Morgan, obviously with the thought in mind of asking her to the dance, Emma was frowning deeply, seeing as she never really was one for balls and things where you had to dress up. She had almost refused to go to the one the year before, but Morgan and Ginny had forced her to go.  
  
Suddenly, she felt her eyes wander involuntarily over to the Slytherin table. She was looking for something, or someone, but she didn't know what. And then, she saw Malfoy, sitting with his elbow on the table, his handsome head resting in his hand. He was looking at Dumbledore with an extraordinarily bored expression on his face, and she watched as he, too, began to look around.  
  
And then it happened. For a fleeting instant, Draco looked her way and they made eye contact. Ginny felt an odd sort of convulsion in her stomach and she felt herself blush as her brown eyes locked into those silvery-gray ones. And suddenly she looked down at her plate, now blushing furiously, and resolved not to look at him again. He was just making her stupid, driving her insane. Draco Malfoy probably just wanted to use her, not to actually like her.  
  
Ginny didn't really hear the rest of Dumbledore's speech, but it was just describing some of the rules for the ball. Finally the dinner feast ended and everyone began sluggishly making their way to their towers to get some sleep. She felt herself yawn continuously, and didn't realize how very tired she was. Morgan was dragging Emma along, who was complaining about the ball, how she didn't want to go, and how no boy would ask her. Morgan was scolding her, sounding very much like a mother speaking to a stubborn child. The three of them, with Celia walking slowly behind them entered their dormitories and began changing for bed. Ginny just kicked off her shoes and pulled off her cloak, slinging it onto a vacant chair. She heaved herself into bed and pulled the crimson covers around her, snuggling deep under them. She didn't hear Morgan and Emma whisper quietly, she didn't hear Celia snap at the two of them for being so loud. She fell asleep almost immediately.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
A ball. Oh, joy. Dumbledore knew how to ruin any school year, Draco thought angrily as he settled himself into a black chair in their Common Room after dinner and Dumbledore's speech. Everyone else seemed to be absolutely ecstatic about it, the girls giggling about their dresses and who would ask them to the ball, the boys acting un-phased about asking their crush, but murmuring to each other discreetly. He didn't really have to freak out about whom he would ask; he could just go up to any random Slytherin girl, and they would say yes. No one ever turned Draco Malfoy down, all the girls fanned over him. Why, this would be as easy as pie.  
  
Again his gray eyes scanned lazily over the room until they rested on a cluster of girls, crowded on a couch. He saw Pansy there, with her best friend Adrian, a pretty girl with wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. She was tall and thin, almost his height, with a quick tongue and a lot of wit. He saw Milicent Bullstrode there too, but inwardly laughed at the thought of asking her. She could be pretty, but she was too thick and stocky, with a very masculine build. Blaise Zabini was talking to his girlfriend, Ana Smithers, who to Draco was extremely ugly, but Blaise couldn't believe his luck at getting a girl like her. He could ask any of them, and they would freak out at their good fortune. But did he want to ask any of them? No. Obviously not.  
  
He wanted to as Ginny. But could he? No, that would be foolish and stupid. It would bring his reputation to plummet violently to the lowest of all civilization if he waltzed into that Great Hall with the youngest Weasley (looking beautiful, no doubt) walking smoothly beside him. So, he wouldn't ask her. It wasn't that hard. After all, they had only kissed, barely even snogged three or four times. That wasn't enough.  
  
Suddenly, he felt someone stand beside him and looked up to see another sixth year boy, like him. Draco recognized the tall boy with curly sandy-blonde hair and blue eyes to be Derek Renolds. The two of them weren't exactly best friends, but Draco didn't go out of his way to be mean to Derek, and the boy admired Draco.  
  
"I'm going to ask Pansy to the ball," Derek said suddenly. Draco raised his eyebrows as Derek settled himself into a nearby chair, pulling it closer to his own.  
  
"Why are you telling me?" Draco asked.  
  
"I've liked her for a while, but I knew that you two were sort of..together. So, I just thought I would let you know. If you've got dibs on her, that's all right. I just wanted to see," he said, drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair. Dibs on her. Like she was something to be claimed.  
  
"No," Draco said before thinking. "Go ahead and ask her. I think I saw her looking your way the other day," he lied. Why was he being so nice? What was going on?  
  
"Really?" Derek said, brightening. "Cool! Yep, I think I'll go ask her right now." With that, he stood and marched over to the clump of girls. Draco could hear in his voice that he was nervous, when he asked her. He watched as Pansy's eyes widened and she forced a smile, but her gaze flickered over to Draco, clearly wondering why Draco wasn't asking her, but he looked away. He heard her say yes, her voice a little shaky. Derek grinned and bent down to kiss Pansy lightly on her pale cheek, before turning, giving Draco a thumbs-up sign, and jogging up to his dormitory.  
  
Suddenly, Draco stood and started to walk over to the girls. He didn't really know what he was doing, he just let his legs carry him. He walked over to Adrian and tried to smile down at her.  
  
"Adrian, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" It was just a reflex, and he surprised himself by saying that. Adrian's jaw dropped and she stared at him for a moment. He knew she was taken by surprise.  
  
"Well-I guess, yes! I mean, yeah, uh, sure, of course. I'd love to, Draco," she stuttered, finally finding her voice. Draco smiled again, or rather smirked.  
  
"Good. On the night of the ball, I'll pick you up at eight." He turned and trudged back up the same stairs that Derek had walked up. That wasn't hard, he thought. That was probably one of the easiest things he had ever done. Now he had a beautiful, respectable girl, who was very rich as well, to go to the ball with him. Much better than Ginny.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Emma, shut up, you're going to the ball and you know it. We're going to make you. Besides, you showed me your dress earlier this year. That pink color looks lovely on you, any boy would be glad to ask you," Morgan said the next morning as the three of them walked towards their first class, which was Charms. Suddenly, as they rounded a corner, Daniel appeared out of nowhere and grinned at them. With him were Will and Thomas who had similar grins on their faces.  
  
"Hey, Morgan, can I see you for a minute? I have Charms too, so we can take another route. I want to talk to you. Alone," he added, eying Ginny and Emma. Morgan looked surprised but pleased all the same, and she winked at Ginny as she walked by. Daniel steered her down another hallway, talking to her hurriedly. Ginny saw Morgan blush before they turned another corner.  
  
"Well, can we escort you fine ladies down the only way to the Charms classroom?" Thomas said, holding out his arm. Emma looped hers through it and smiled up at him. "I believe that Daniel will be quite disappointed to realize that there is no 'other route' to Flitwick's classroom." He chuckled, and Ginny realized how very deep his voice was. Very much like Draco's.  
  
Will held his arm out too, and Ginny took it, smiling up at him. He certainly was a handsome boy, she thought, with his wise hazel eyes and his brown hair flopped lazily over his forehead. The four of them made their way down the hallway, with Emma and Thomas chattering loudly. Finally they reached the classroom and entered it, finding their usual seats and pulling out their parchment, quills and ink. As Professor Flitwick began to talk about what they would be learning in class, the door swung loudly open and Morgan and Daniel stumbled in. They both looked quite out of breath, and immediately began mumbling excuses, saying they got lost on the way or something like that. Ginny grinned and beckoned Morgan over, and she gratefully plopped down in her seat, pushing a few strands of black hair from her face that had strayed from her braids.  
  
"He asked me to the ball," Morgan said breathlessly, heaving out her book.  
  
"Well?" Ginny asked excitedly. "What did you say?"  
  
"Yes, of course," she said, blushing. "And then he realized that we were going the wrong way to class." Ginny grinned for her friend. She was just about to say something in reply when Professor Flitwick began speaking again. The two of them fell silent and pulled out their wands, ready for the day's (dull, no doubt) work.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Another Authors Note For You- Sorry, that was sort of boring, but I just wanted to clear a few things up, like, clearly they aren't going to the ball together. I hate it when that happens in stories! I hate hate hate it!  
  
Okay, I've never done little shout-outs before, but hey, why not? Just to a few people. I don't like it when it's to everybody.  
  
*Lady Mione- Yay, I'm so glad I made you laugh, for like, twenty minutes! How that line is funny, I don't know, but I'm glad it amused you. Oh and thanks so much for putting me on your favorite authors list! You rock! And thank you for being a faithful, every-chapter reviewer. I think.  
  
*UglinessRox55- I still love the name, I laugh whenever I see it. I seriously doubt you're ugly, though. Thanks for reviewing faithfully! And having me on your favorite authors list, I think, I'm not positive, maybe I was just hallucinating and saw your name up there. Ha, sometimes being happy has that effect on me. Poo.  
  
*DracosDramaQueen- Aha, thank you, K-K!! Lovely reviews, though you haven't reviewed the seventh chapter as I'm writing this now, I know you'll do so soon..(glares) But anyways, thanks for being a thankful reviewer, even though you want Hermione to leap in and steal Draco's heart, but sorry dear, it's not going to happen. She's going to have her own tangled affairs later in the story, don't worry. Haha, I have it all planned out! And I don't think you'll like it!! (grins)  
  
*Polar-Zephyr- Thank you, too, for being like my most fantasticbulbous reviewer, (and yes, that is a word, I'll have you know) I like how you seem to be hyper in every single review. Ha, just like me!! So yes, keep reviewing and I'll love you forever. :) Or maybe not, because I don't know you. God, that would be scary!!  
  
*Faxton, or Lizi- You're cool too, my other faithful reviewer. Keep up the good reviews, and I'll love you, too, forever! Oh, look at me over here, giving my heart away to so many demanding people. (sighs) I'm so loved...  
  
And all of you other people out there who I didn't put here, sorry, like Olive and Madz, (though you haven't reviewed since like the first chapter, damnit, fool!) and Alli and Jane and other people who I can just thank at school and not have to type any more. So that's all, tatah! And I won't do shout-outs for like another million chapters. Just letting you know. ~Clare 


	9. I know you're all bouncing with glee to ...

Disclaimer- Not mine, only the plot. Does anyone actually read these things? I don't think so.  
  
Authors Note- Aha, so now you know that they aren't going to the ball together. I don't like it when that happens in stories- it's waaay too out of character for Draco, he wouldn't stoop that low, no offence to the Weasley-lovers out there. Anyways, what's going to happen? Read on, cheerio! Oh, and this is probably going to be a long chapter, but read the whole thing through, please.  
  
Chapter Nine- (dude, I don't believe I've gotten this far and nothing significant has happened yet besides them snogging like once.)  
  
It was early December now, and the weather was getting considerably colder, forcing students to wear thick cloaks with hoods when they went outside for Care of Magical Creature's lessons. However, the air inside the school was thick with gossip and excitement about the coming Yule ball. No one had asked Ginny yet, but she wasn't completely freaking out, like Emma was. She knew that her time would come, even if it wasn't Draco who asked her. Emma was going insane, obviously flirting with boys she hardly knew, and getting scolded by Morgan. Morgan, of course, had nothing to worry about, seeing as she was already set up with Daniel. Daniel loved to brag to the other boys about how he got one of the prettiest girls in the grade, and how he didn't have to worry about asking anyone anymore. The other guys just thought he was stupid.  
  
One Friday afternoon, Ginny was in the Common Room, dumping her bag onto a vacant chair. They had Friday afternoons off, so she, Emma and Morgan were planning to get some work done, so they would have the weekend free. Emma and Morgan were already settled into their chair, but Ginny was running late. Suddenly Thomas, Will, Daniel and John were beside them. Morgan greeted them cheerfully and scooted over in her chair so that Daniel could squeeze in with her. Will cleared his throat and stuffed his hands into his pockets.  
  
"Hey, Gin?" Ginny looked up and smiled at him.  
  
"Hello, Will. What's up?" She absentmindedly tucked a strand of fiery hair behind her ear.  
  
"Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out on a walk with me, out to the Quidditch pitch or something," he said, pulling his hands out of his pockets and hooking his thumbs through the belt-loops of his jeans. Ginny grinned and tossed her bag to the ground so that John could sit in the seat.  
  
"Sure, okay. Morgan, Emma, just do the essay now, and I'll do it later. It looks easy, anyways." She grinned at the two of them and followed Will to the portrait hole. They leapt down through it, thanked the Fat Lady, and started down the hallway. They chattered casually about the Quidditch season, about how Gryffindor spectacularly won their last game with Hufflepuff. They talked about Ron a bit, how Will looked up to him and thought he was such a wonderful captain and Chaser. Ginny felt herself swell with sisterly pride when they talked about Ron getting on the team in his fifth year, and becoming captain in sixth.  
  
Suddenly, they found themselves out on the Quidditch field, peering up into the cloudless sky, the chilly wind whipping their robes out behind them. They went and sat onto a bench in a place sheltered from the wind, and Ginny felt wonderfully cozy. She kept expecting the boy sitting next to her to be Draco when he turned to speak to her.  
  
"So, anyways, the reason I came out her with you in the first place was to ask you something." Ginny grinned, she didn't have to be brilliant to figure out what was coming next. "I just wanted to see if you wanted to go to the Yule Ball with me," he said awkwardly, a blush creeping up his cheeks. Ginny laughed for no reason at all before answering.  
  
"Yes! Yes, of course, Will." He grinned and let out a huge sigh of relief, and Ginny giggled again.  
  
"Wonderful. God, I was scared about doing that. I thought it would be so terrifying to do it, I don't know why, even when I did it last year." A sudden gust of wind pushed the hair back from his forehead and he squinted.  
  
"Who did you go with last year?"  
  
"This Ravenclaw girl that I was madly in love with. I think her name was Cherrie. Yeah, that's it. She was so pretty, but then after the ball she totally ditched me for some other guy. Huh, I don't know what I saw in her in the first place." He looked over at Ginny and his eyes bored into Ginny. He seemed to be searching for something. Love? Honesty? But she had a good poker face and used it. "Yeah, a lot of guys go for looks only," she said, feeling very cold suddenly. Another freezing gust of wind shoved violently at their chests and Will stood abruptly up.  
  
"Let's go inside, I'm getting really cold out here." Shivering, Ginny followed suit and they began walking towards the castle together, in silence, his cloak wrapped around hers. She felt cozy next to him, but didn't feel nervous or breathless like she did when she was with Draco. She just didn't feel the friction.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Two hours to go, two hours to go!" Emma squealed, her fingers clenching her cheeks so hard that when she let go brilliant red marks were left on the skin. "Two hours until eight o'clock, at which point I am going to embarrass myself publicly in front of the whole school when I go onto the floor with Thomas and can't freaking dance," she wailed, clutching Morgan's sleeve. Morgan sighed and shrugged her away, peering up at the clock. It was indeed six o'clock on December the 23rd.  
  
"Chill, Emma. Thomas won't care if you can't dance, he probably can't dance either. And that's not why he asked you, anyways." Emma shrugged and leaned back into her seat. She looked over to Ginny, who was sitting calmly by the fire and snorted. "Hey, be glad you got asked. You were totally driving me and Ginny insane, trying to get us to feel sorry for you," Morgan snapped. She wasn't in a very good mood at all, and she hadn't been for a few days. Apparently, it was that time of month for her. Twice now she had totally blown up at Emma, who hadn't done anything wrong. Ginny just presumed that the ball was getting to her head, as well.  
  
"I'll be glad to get it over with," Ginny admitted, not looking up. Emma raised her hand in agreement. "I'm going to go up to get ready in a little while," she said. The two girls nodded.  
  
"Yes, in fact, I'm going to go up now," Morgan said, throwing her book down. "This History of Magic stuff is so stupid and boring I could rip the book in half and eat it all," she spat. Ginny winced, hoping that she would be in a better mood for Daniel that night. Together they marched upstairs and rummaged through their trunks for their dresses. Emma pulled out a big lump of pearly pink fabric and a few boxes, which apparently contained jewelry. Ginny reached into hers and pulled out the large box, which she hadn't even opened yet. Inside of it was her dress, and what a lovely dress it was.  
  
"I get the bathroom!" Ginny called, and snatching the dress, she bounded in, shutting the door securely behind her. She quietly slipped out of her robes and dumped them onto the floor, and opened the box. She grinned as she pulled out the dress and gasped at how soft the fabric was. She unbuttoned the back and put her legs through it, pulling it up and struggling to fasten all of the buttons. Smoothing the fabric, she smiled at her reflection and opened the door. "Do you guys like it?" she asked meekly. She knew the answer.  
  
Morgan gasped as Ginny slipped through the door, wearing her dress. She had no idea it would suit her friend so well! It was a brilliant, deep blood red color, and it looked as though it was made out of satin. It hugged her curves lovingly and made her look very thin indeed. The front wasn't too low, but had a deep V in the middle, which had black satin strings tying it up loosely. It was long and elegant, and the skirt was loose and swished when she walked. All of the edges and hems were lined in the same black satin, making the whole dress look framed. It was sleeveless, and in the back, the buttons were black satin as well, matching the tie in front.  
  
"Oh, Gin, it's so beautiful!" Emma gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. "Now what to do with your hair?"  
  
"I can do that," Morgan said quickly, her former scowl now completely gone. "Just let me change into my dress." She climbed up onto her bed and pulled the hangings hurriedly around it, and just a few moments later, the hangings swung open again and she clambered out. Now she was positively beaming. Her dress was long, made of light lavender material, with full- length belled sleeves that had darker blue flower designs around the elbow, at the neck, around the waist and at the hem. It intensified her eyes and the deep black of her hair looked lovely next to it.  
  
"Ooh, Morgan!" Emma squealed, laughing. "It looks so good with your hair, and your pale skin!" Morgan beamed and twirled around, letting the skirt flare out and swirl in a large spiral. "Now let me get dressed." While Emma leapt into the bathroom, Morgan took out her wand and a brush.  
  
"Come here, Ginny, let me do your hair," she said lovingly, grabbing Ginny's wrist and pulling her over to the bed. The two of them sat down on it and Morgan began slowly brushing the long, golden-red locks. "I do love your hair," she whispered.  
  
Nearly an hour later, Ginny winced as Morgan yanked particularly hard on a few strands of her hair.  
  
"Hurry up, Morgan," she groaned. "You're taking forever."  
  
"Ah, yes, but you'll be pleased with the result," Morgan replied. "There we go, enough. Good lord, the fumes from that Muggle hairspray are enough to make anyone tipsy," she said with a laugh. "Go look at yourself, dear, you'll love it." Ginny stood and walked slowly towards the mirror, and gasped at what she saw. Her hair had been artistically curled with a curling charm into perfect red sausage ringlets. Morgan had piled the curls onto the top of Ginny's head and tied them up with a red ribbon that matched her dress. A few curls hung out from the mass, but looked wonderfully deliberate, and bounced when she walked. She beamed at her reflection. She turned around and grinned at Morgan as a way of her thank- you.  
  
Suddenly, Celia entered the room. Ginny hadn't noticed at all when she had gotten dressed, but there she was, in a sleek black gown, her sheer blonde hair pulled into an artistic but plain bun. Her eyes were darkened with eyeliner and mascara, and her already huge lips were turned a bright red. In her hand she held a huge box.  
  
"Here, you guys," she said, tossing the box onto Emma's bed. "It's a big thing of makeup. I noticed that you never wear any, and I just thought to lend you some for the ball. There's everything imaginable, just don't use the purple lipstick, it sort of melted the other day in my pocket," she said. Her blue eyes scanned the three girls, and a smirk adorned her red lips. "Well, goodbye." And with that she turned around and marched out. Emma raised her eyebrows, but Morgan grinned.  
  
"Ah, perfect!" Morgan cried. "Just what we need." Emma pretended to gag.  
  
"You're not going to put anything that slut gives you on my face," she said, crossing her arms.  
  
"Oh, shut up and come here," Morgan ordered, waving a mascara wand in her face. Eventually she forced some makeup on Emma and even a bit on Ginny, but once she had mascara and lipstick on, she flatly refused for anything else. Morgan had begged, but the two other girls had stood fast. And suddenly, the clock chimed, and it was eight o'clock.  
  
"Good God," Emma breathed. "Two hours passed already?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ginny took a deep breath as she and Will arrived at the doors of the Great Hall. Will grinned down at her, at her beauty. He, too, wasn't badly dressed in black robes, though they were a little ordinary. In front of them were Morgan and Daniel, Morgan looking fantastic even with her last- minute braids twisted into a bun on the back of her head, and behind them were Thomas and Emma. Emma didn't do anything with her hair, after all, but looked wonderfully simple.  
  
The doors opened and the six of them marched in, beaming around at everyone. The Great Hall, like always, was decorated to it's best, with Christmas trees all over the place and candles glimmering everywhere. (I could go on forever describing the beauty of it all, but I won't, and save you about four pages of descriptions.) The four house tables were gone, and a large dancing floor took their place, and against the walls were lots of smaller tables, the smallest seating four. They found one table for six and claimed it as theirs, looking around excitedly as the Hall began filling up with people.  
  
Ginny couldn't believe it, seeing all of the girls in their beautiful gowns. Lots were prettier than hers, but she was proud of her dress, seeing as she could hardly afford it, but Percy had given her a lot of money as a birthday present in the previous year, since he had been making so much from his new job.  
  
"Look, there's Hermione and Ron! Oh, and Cho and Harry, of course," Emma whispered, pointing. Ginny stood on tiptoe, looking over a particularly huge mass of Hufflepuff students, to see her friends and brother. Hermione was wearing a light green dress, and it did look quite good with her hair, which was plaited, entwined with matching green ribbon. Ginny scowled to see Cho looking beautiful in a deep golden gown, with Harry beaming along beside her.  
  
The four of them made their way over to Ginny's table, and claimed the one beside it. "Oh, isn't this fun?" Hermione squealed. Ginny forced a smile as Ron gave her a peck on the cheek.  
  
"Yes, lots of fun, seeing as nothing has happened yet," she hissed under her breath, not being able to conceal her dislike. But then, it was almost Christmas, so she promised to herself to be extra nice to everybody on the night of the ball. Luckily, Hermione was too happy to notice the sarcasm.  
  
The ball began with the prefect's dancing, and Hermione dragged Ron up there. Harry and Cho went, too, because Cho was sixth-year prefect for Ravenclaw. Ginny saw Malfoy up there too, and felt a sudden urge to run up to him, punch the pretty girl beside him in the face, and kiss him sweetly. Just then, however, Will squeezed her hand.  
  
"Let's dance," he said with a grin. Ginny smiled and nodded, and they made their way onto the dance floor. Will took her hand and wrapped his other around her waist, and she put her left hand on his shoulder. Ginny was relieved to find that Will could dance, and he slowly steered her around. He murmured quietly to her, and she laughed when it was funny and smiled politely when it wasn't. But very frequently she would spot Draco, dancing with a pretty girl with flowing, wavy brown hair in a forest-green dress. Draco's robe was a deep green, as well, giving him a very sophisticated (and hot, in her mind) look. Twice they made eye contact, but each time Will said something again, and she jerked her gaze back to his handsome, unsuspecting face.  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
The hours passed quickly, and it was nearly ten o'clock when Ginny found herself laughing hysterically at something that Thomas had said. She was clutching a bottle of butterbeer and wheezing for breath, squeezing Will's arm with her other hand. Ron and Hermione were still on the dance floor, and at the moment Ron was leaning Hermione backwards over his arm, her head was nearly touching the floor, and she was laughing. Ron looked slightly drunk, though he couldn't possibly be because butterbeer wasn't that strong, but it looked dreadfully as though he was going to drop Hermione on her head. Suddenly, someone was standing in front of her and she looked up to see a boy she had only seen a few times in the hallway.  
  
"Hello," she slurred, then coughed for a moment, cleared her throat and spoke clearly. "Who are you?"  
  
"Oh, I'm Blaise. I was just wondering if I could see you outside for a minute." He had black hair that was sleeked back, but he wasn't really ugly. He, too, was wearing black robes. Ginny looked down at Will, who was deep in conversation with John, but he glanced up at her and nodded, so she stood and followed the boy outside. The air was chilly and she shivered slightly. Blaise smirked and looked remarkably, for a moment, like Draco. He led her into the shadow of the school and up to the wall, and began to talk to her. Ginny was too happy and flushed to realize that something was terribly wrong.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco watched Ginny carefully as she stood up and began to follow Blaise through the crowds of students. He was sitting at his table, and Adrian was up dancing with Derek, after Pansy had thrown a fit when someone spilled a drink on her dress, and fled to her dormitory, leaving Derek alone. He wasn't really paying attention to Adrian and didn't care that Derek leaned over and kissed Adrian fully on the lips at that very moment.  
  
His gaze followed Ginny (god, she looked fantastic) in her beautiful red dress as she followed Blaise out the door. He didn't like that situation, he didn't like it at all. Why would Blaise, of all people, be taking her outside? And Ginny, a Gryffindor, a Weasley. It's not like Blaise would just want to have a cheerful little chat out in the cold, pitch-black night. No, something was up.  
  
Draco shook his head and looked back to Adrian, to see her slip and fall painfully on her bottom, but she just laughed as Derek hoisted her back up, and kissed her again. Draco didn't make the slightest registration in his brain that his friend was snogging his date. He looked away and drummed his fingers on the table, reaching over with his other hand and grabbing his glass of butterbeer.  
  
"Weak stuff, someone needs to spike it," he mumbled to no one in particular. "Then we'd have some fun, if the whole population of the school was drunk." He chuckled deeply at the thought and took a great swig of the drink.  
  
It was about fifteen minutes when his curiosity got the better of him. Standing up, he walked across the room with great strides and slid through the door. He walked through the silent hallway and reached the front doors of Hogwarts. He shoved them open and walked outside.  
  
The chilly wind whipped his robes back and he squinted into the dark. The moonlight made things visible, and he began walking across the grounds, looking here and there. Where could Blaise have possibly taken her? His panic began to mount, (for a reason unknown to him) when he heard not a sound. And then, he heard it. A scream, a terror-filled, blood-curdling scream pierced through the air, shattering through his brain and he immediately recognized it as Ginny. Racing towards the sound, he heard a scream again, though it sounded more muffled and desperate. He broke into full speed and rounded a corner of the school. And then he saw them.  
  
Blaise had Ginny pinned up against a wall, one sleeve of her dress was drooping off of her shoulder. He was shoved against her, doing other things clearly told why Ginny sounded so horrified. (They were both almost completely clothed, though) Her arms were trapped behind her and she was sobbing, full, racking sobs, and all that registered in Draco's mind was that Blaise was trying to rape Ginny. She screamed again, then seemed to say something, but Draco couldn't hear what. Blaise backed away for a moment and slapped her, hard, on the cheek. Draco could hear the sound of the blow.  
  
Not even thinking of his wand, Draco strode forward, grabbed Blaise's shoulder and jerked him backward. With all the force he could muster, (which was quite a lot, for a muscle-toned sixteen year-old) he punched Blaise in the face. He hit his nose and blood exploded everywhere, Blaise yelled and stumbled backward, his hands clutching his face. Draco took the free moment to aim another hefty blow into his stomach and Blaise doubled over, falling to the ground. Though he was curled up, Draco kicked his stomach again, and then his crotch, and Blaise yelled again.  
  
Eyes flashing with anger, Draco turned back to Ginny. She was now crouched on the ground, her face in her hands, sobbing. Her dress looked torn in the front, she was shivering, and her curls had completely come out of their hold and were now flopped over her shoulders. Draco wordlessly reached a hand down and she looked up into his face. Draco's heart was suddenly grabbed and wrenched by two icy hands when he saw the terror and fear in those doe-like eyes. She reached up and took his hand, and he hoisted her up. Her whole body was shaking, and he slowly pulled her away from Blaise, who was still a dark form huddled onto the ground. Once they were a considerable distance from him, he spoke.  
  
"What happened, Ginny?" It was like a whisper, but he didn't want to sound demanding.  
  
"Well, Blaise--" She took a few wracking breaths before continuing. "He brought me out here, and he told me.. he told me he thought I was pretty.. and then I knew something was wrong, and he grabbed my sleeve and-- " She began to cry again, perhaps at the memory of her beautiful dress tearing. "He tried to kiss me, and so I screamed and began to run but he grabbed my hair and.. pulled it out and--"She suddenly stumbled on the bottom hem of her dress and flew forward, but Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her back up.  
  
"That's all right, that's enough," he said quietly. "Here, do you want me to carry you back up to your tower?" he asked soothingly. Why was he being so nice? Probably because she was just molested by someone who you thought was your friend, he told himself. She whimpered and nodded, so he reached down behind her knees and hoisted her up. She w as incredibly light, just as he thought she would be.  
  
"Thank you," she whispered, nestling her head on his chest. He couldn't help but smile. "Oh, Draco, are you going to tell?" She looked up at him, her eyes still filled with that unmistakable spark of fear.  
  
"Do you want me to tell?"  
  
"No," she said firmly. "If Ron finds out, he'll never let me out of his sight, Hermione will freak out, Harry will get all protective, everyone will know, Dumbledore would tell my parents and people will think--"  
  
"I get it," he interrupted. "I won't tell unless you ask me to later." She smiled up at him and sighed peacefully.  
  
Soon, they reached the Gryfindor tower. Draco slowly let her slide down from his arms, reluctantly. The Fat Lady eyed Draco beadily and slid down from her seat to press her ear to the edge of the portrait. Ginny stood on tiptoe and whispered the password to the Fat Lady's ear. She nodded, still eying Draco, and swung the door open. Ginny paused for a moment, and then swung her arms around Draco's neck and kissed him. It was a brief kiss, but Draco understood. Then she smiled shakily, hitched up her torn red skirts, and climbed through the door and into the Gryffindor Common Room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- Holy crap, that's a long chapter. This is the seventh page. But, the ending was important. I'll have you know, if you haven't already figured it out, that Blaise didn't go all the way, like fully rape her, Draco came too fast. Sorry if you think that I'm some sick morbid person, I'm not.  
  
Review, please, and I'll love you forever. :) ~ Clare. Dude, he has a goatee!! Haha! 


	10. Aaaand here's the TENTH!

Disclaimer- Not...mine... (wheeze)  
  
Authors Note- I'm not really in an authors-note-giving mood at the moment, so saddeningly, (is that a word? No, because the red squiggly lines showed up again, but I'm using it anyways) you're not going to get one. Actually, there's one thing I must say- in the ninth chapter, during the Yule Ball, I said that Cho was a Ravenclaw sixth-year prefect. Thank you, K-K, for pointing that out. Maaajor mistake. She's a seventh year prefect. Yeah, sorry, though I doubt anybody else really noticed that. :)  
  
On with the chapter! Chapter Ten  
  
Luckily, the next day was a Saturday, because Ginny didn't want to go out or see anyone. She slept in until ten thirty, skipped breakfast and refused to come down to the Common Room. Morgan and Emma were both terribly worried, wondering what possibly could have gone wrong on the night of the ball, but Ginny kept her mouth shut. She didn't want the world to know, and she prayed that hopefully Draco would keep his word, too.  
  
She took a pair of Morgan's navy-blue sweatpants, (with her permission of course) and wore a black turtleneck with her black school sweater over it. She sat on her bed with the blankets wrapped around her, shivering though she wasn't cold. She was just scared. Of what, she didn't know, but she felt that being covered in all types of clothes and blankets would make her safe. She felt so terribly violated.  
  
She missed the Quidditch game, so she didn't see Slytherin lose to Gryffindor by only twenty or so points. She didn't see Harry's victory and she didn't hear the screams of glee from the Gryffindors. She was up on her bed, writing furiously in her journal, tears splashing down her front. When she was through writing, she read a book and missed lunch, too.  
  
At about two thirty, the door to the dormitory burst open and Emma and Morgan rushed in, Hermione at their heels. Hermione was talking very hurriedly, and Ginny heard the words 'Ginny' and 'sick.'  
  
"Ginny! There you are, where have you been? Why is your face all red? Oh dear, were you crying? Come here, Gin, tell Hermione what's wrong," Hermione cooed, rushing over to her friend and attempting to throw her arms around her. Ginny scooted away and shook her head.  
  
"Why did you miss lunch, Ginny?" Emma asked, staying a safe distance away from her, her brown eyes full of worry for her friend.  
  
"I-I feel sick," Ginny lied, pretending to cough. But she made brief eye contact with Morgan, and Morgan nodded.  
  
"Look, Hermione, I think Ginny wants to be alone. If you've been sick for less than twenty-four hours, then you're still contagious, right?" Ginny nodded, nestling deeper into her layers of clothing. "Then we should go. Come on, Emma, Hermione," she said, beckoning them out to the door. Then she paused. "I'll be right there," she called, and shut the door behind the other girls. "Oh, Ginny, what's wrong?" she cried, rushing over.  
  
At this, Ginny burst into tears again. "I'll tell you later," she blubbered, wiping tears from her cheeks. Morgan looked deeply pained at her friend's sadness, but didn't say anything. Forcing a smile, she turned and left the room, leaving Ginny to collapse into further states of grief.  
  
But it was Christmas Eve. Ginny couldn't be miserable and spreading sadness all over the Gryffindor tower. She wanted to have fun, to laugh, to eat at the huge feast. And so, she resolved to push the previous night's terrifying events out of her head and to go laugh and eat. After all, it was a time for celebration, not tears.  
  
Changing into a pair of casual jeans and taking off her sweater, Ginny brushed her hair until it gleamed like flames against the black of her shirt and she walked slowly down the stairs. The common room wasn't full, but she could see Morgan, Emma and the gang of boys over by the fire. Shrugging away the random urge to cry again, she came silently over and sat down in an empty chair. Everyone fell silent, and it was terribly awkward, the air suddenly tense.  
  
Will spoke first. "Where did you go last night, Gin? You sort of left with that weird Blair guy," he said. Ginny looked up into his eyes and saw that he was hurt. He thought she had gone off to make out with some other guy or something.  
  
"It was Blaise, and I went against my will. Or, not really, but what he did--" She paused as she felt her throat choke up. "Never mind. I'm sorry, Will, I shouldn't have left." She began blinking furiously. There was silence again.  
  
"We won our game against Slytherin," Thomas said quietly. He wasn't on the team, but he had tried out for it in the previous year, and though he didn't make it, he was a huge supporter, often showing up at practices just to watch them play.  
  
Immediately Ginny brightened. "You did? Really? Wonderful!" She smiled again, and Will actually saw the truth. He saw that she wasn't lying, that something was wrong, that she didn't mean to leave last night. "Did Harry catch the Snitch, or did you just win by the points?"  
  
"Oh, Harry caught it," Daniel said, grinning. "If he hadn't, we would've lost. Slytherin was beating us with about one hundred points, then Harry caught it, and we won." He closed his eyes, lost in the bliss of the memory. "It was wonderful." Ginny laughed, and Will felt his heart wrench. He really did like her, he really did.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
That afternoon, Ginny stayed with her friends. She didn't go off and be a recluse like she thought she would be forever, after being scarred for life. At one point, she did run up to the Owlery to send a Merry Christmas note to her parents and a few small gifts, and to Fred and George, and to Percy. She used a total of five school owls, and Ron wouldn't let her use Pig.  
  
The Christmas spirit was certainly in the air, and Ginny couldn't help but be happy. Everyone was excited about the next morning, where they would wake to find a pile of presents for themselves. She had presents for everyone, of course, even the boys. She had been saving up money over the summer for that.  
  
They all bundled up in sweaters and cloaks and went outside, where it was snowing softly, the ground covered in a thick blanket of gleaming white snow. They had a violent snowball fight; resulting in Will guarding Ginny faithfully after John stuffed a handful of it down the back of her shirt.  
  
The game lasted for nearly two hours, and when it was finished, everyone clambered back up to the Gryffindor tower, the heat of the castle melting the snow on their robes, causing them to trail water everywhere they went. As everyone took off their cloaks, Ginny realized that she had left hers on a bush outside, when she had taken it off because she was getting warm.  
  
"Oh, damnit!" she cried, clapping a hand to her forehead.  
  
"What?" Daniel and Emma chorused.  
  
"I left my cloak outside! Goodness, now I have to go get it." She stood up again and began to walk to the portrait hole.  
  
"Hey, I'll come with you," Will offered. Ginny smiled kindly at him.  
  
"No, that's all right, I'll just grab it. Thanks, though," she said and leapt out of the hole. She walked through the hallways, the memory of the previous night almost gone from her mind because of the afternoon's cheerful activities. Shivering, she walked outside and peered around, trying to remember where they had their fight. It had stopped snowing, and finally she spotted an area where the snow was mutilated and thrown around. Grinning, she walked through the snow towards it. Suddenly, she heard a whooshing sound behind her and someone chuckled. She screamed and leapt around, to see Malfoy hovering about three feet off the ground on his broomstick. He grinned at her.  
  
"Well, hello, Weasley. What are you doing out here all alone?" She blinked at him for a moment an opened her mouth to reply.  
  
"Oh, I--" she stuttered. "I was getting my cloak! It's right there, on the bush.." She pointed to the bush where she had left it and suddenly noticed it wasn't there. "What? Where'd it go! Did you take it, Malfoy?" She turned around to him and glared. He laughed.  
  
"No, actually, I didn't. I don't really have a need for a shabby little cloak of yours. And I seriously doubt that's why you came out, for there's no evidence. You truly are an awful liar." He watched her face fall and realized he was just being cruel and horrible to the girl he had saved last night. He sighed. "No, Ginny, I didn't take it. Sorry it's not there, I was just flying around the grounds." He shrugged, and then smiled. "Want to go for a ride?"  
  
Her face brightened. "Really? On your broomstick?"  
  
"No, on my lovely pink horse named Sally," he scoffed. "Yes, my broomstick. Come on, get on it." The broomstick lowered all the way to the ground and she slipped one leg over it.  
  
"I've only ridden on a broomstick twice; once with Ron when he first got his, and once with Harry," she murmured quietly. He didn't say anything but kicked off, and the two of them soared into the air. He heard Ginny gasp.  
  
"Well, now this can be the third boy you've been on one with." She didn't reply, but he didn't really expect her too. She leaned against his chest and he smirked to feel her lightweight body against him. He steered them over the castle and around the grounds, and she blabbered about the beauty of it all. He stayed strong and silent the whole time, but after about half an hour, he could feel Ginny shivering.  
  
"Perhaps we should go back," she whispered. Again, he said nothing, but just began to steer them back to the castle. "That was lovely." He let her down, and she turned to him, and suddenly she sighed heavily.  
  
"Thanks, Draco."  
  
"For what? A broomstick ride?"  
  
"No, for the other night," she said, her voice breaking. Suddenly she rushed forward and kissed him on the lips, hugging him tightly at the same time. Then she pulled away, her eyes sparkling, and turned to run up the stairs of the castle, two at a time.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
That evening was the Christmas Eve feast, and though the decorations were fantastic, it wasn't as glamorous as the one that they were all expecting for the next night. Ginny, Morgan and Emma ate massive amounts of the various sorts of food, and the noise level in the Great Hall was louder than usual, even though many students had gone home for the winter break. After dinner, the three of them and the boys all went back to the Gryffindor tower. They talked loudly, laughing at jokes that weren't really funny and playing tricks on unsuspecting classmates.  
  
However, at about eleven at night, everyone began to get tired, and they agreed to turn in for the night. The girls went up their staircase and the boys to theirs, after many jokes about Daniel coming to spend the night with Morgan, and Thomas with Emma. Ginny laughed along, but was relieved that no one offered for Will to go up with Ginny. She wasn't in the mood to have any jokes made about her with guys. The three girls collapsed into their beds and pulled up the covers, murmuring quietly across the dark room before one by one they fell asleep.  
  
(a/n- sorry that was a short little thingy between ~*~*'s, I do that sometimes. But the chapter's not over yet)  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
The next morning, Ginny awoke to the sound of sharp squeals from her left side. She grumbled and rolled over onto her back before remembering that it was Christmas. Yelling randomly, she leapt out of bed, falling painfully onto the hard ground. The cold of the stone floor stung her feet but she ignored it and rounded the corner of her bed to see a wonderfully large pile of presents. She grinned and clapped her hands like a little child who just got a new toy.  
  
At the noise, Morgan and Celia awoke as well and, blabbering excitedly, leaned over the bottoms of their bed to scoop the presents up onto it. Ginny did the same so that she didn't have to sit on the cold floor.  
  
"Oh, look what I got!" Emma cried. The other girls looked over and laughed to see that Emma was nearly finished opening her presents, she had woken up before all of them just to get a head start. She was holding out a huge box of all sorts of candy. Ginny watched as she ripped it open and stuffed two chocolate frogs in her mouth at once. She laughed again and turned to her own presents.  
  
The first one was thick and lumpy, and she opened it to find exactly what she expected to find- a Weasley sweater and an assortment of foods. The sweater was deep red, very much like the color of the dress she had worn, but it was plain and had no designs on it. She placed it to the side and opened her next one.  
  
It was from Hermione, and it was a collection of Muggle books that had no pictures. They looked like they were written in poems, and she looked arounnd for the name of the book, or the author. One of them, on the cover said- A Midsummer's Night Dream and the other said Romeo and Juliet. She raised her eyebrows and showed them to Morgan, who was born into a Muggle family, and Morgan launched into one of her frequent blabberings about how famous a man named Shakespeare was, how he wrote so many plays, and those were two of his most famous.  
  
There was a pretty necklace and matching bracelet from Morgan, and Emma had given her a book of handy, easy charms. Harry gave her another book, which she didn't really look at the title of, and another present she opened was yet a fourth book, covered in deep red leather and a silver lock on it. It was completely blank, but the paper was thick and crisp. The package had no name telling her who it was from, but she looked up and caught Celia's eye; Celia smiled, blushed and looked back to her own presents. It was then that Ginny vowed to be nicer to Celia, for she gave her such a beautiful journal.  
  
There were a few things from Hagrid, a pocketknife from Will and more food and books from the other boys. She finally reached the last package; it was slightly heavy and wrapped in plain brown paper. The note said - Ginny, don't open this while others are around, they'll get suspicious. I guess it's for not being able to find that other cloak you lost the other day, even though I didn't really try. ~Draco Malfoy. It didn't say anything else. Her eyes widened as she read the note three times over, and then hastily stuffed the package under her pillow.  
  
"Oh, look at this, Emma! Smell this perfume!" Morgan cried, rushing across the room and spraying something in Emma's face. Emma coughed and waved her hand around, nodding. Morgan turned to Ginny. "Smell this, Gin, hey, what was that?"  
  
"What was what?" Ginny said, blinking innocently.  
  
"What you just put under your pillow! Was that a present? Who was it from?" "I did no such thing, Morgan, there's no present there. Let me smell it," she said quickly, and allowed Morgan to spray the stuff in her face, which smelled like apples and cinnamon.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Again, the feast was delicious, with every type of meat imaginable, breads, rolls, and bowls of everything you could do to a potato. There were fruits and vegetables, fish, and even vegetable puddings, which weren't very good, but Emma ate about three. There were more types of drinks than Ginny thought existed, and she drank until she felt as though her stomach would explode. She was incredibly carefree and happy, especially when Harry complimented her on the necklace and bracelet that Morgan gave her. The boys were all loud and rambunctious, telling jokes and spraying everyone with butterbeer when they laughed and had the drink in their mouths. Will even leaned over and gave Ginny a light kiss on the lips when she thanked him for the pocketknife. It was a wonderful evening. But it would be even better if she went up to her dormitory, open the gift Draco gave her, and go find him to thank him. And that's just what she decided to do.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- Sorry, long chapter, I sort of got carried away. I do that sometimes, I totally lose track of time and get lost in what I'm writing. I don't pay attention to anything.  
  
If you consider that a cliffy, sorry and review, but if you don't, review anyways. Yeah, so that chapter wasn't too exciting, but I'll make a more exciting one if you review. And believe me, there's more excitement to come. (giggles) Yeah, if you're Olive, you'll know what I'm talking about! (laughs insanely) Hermione, you're goin' down! Oooooh. That's all I'm going to say. As you might've guessed, in this story, Hermie isn't my favorite character. Hellz no. So anyways, if you have any guesses about what's going to happen, put them in your review, (for some stupid reason that I don't know) but if you don't, then just blabber pointlessly and make your review really long, and I will send you to China on a quest to retrieve my forever- lost pencil in the Himalayas, though the Himalayas aren't in China. Makes you want to do a long review, doesn't it? (wink wink, nudge nudge)  
  
~Clare thy Moron. 


	11. My god I update soon, but I dont think y...

Disclaimer- Look at any of the other chapters, it's there.  
  
Authors Note- HA! I bet this was like the fastest update in the history of fanfiction!! Actually, probly not, but hey, I can dream, can't I? Thanks for the reviews, everybody!!  
  
Chapter Eleven. Whee, I'm here already!!  
  
Ginny stayed down in the Great Hall for a little while longer, looking frequently down at the Slytherin table to see if she could see Draco. He wasn't there. Making an excuse that she was really tired and wanted to get some rest, she slipped away from the loud crowd of her friends and into the hallway. She ran up a few staircases on her memorized route to the Gryffindor tower. She reached the Fat Lady's portrait and wheezed the password, racing up through the Common Room and into her dormitory.  
  
She skidded to a halt at her bed and flung off her pillow. She didn't know when she had been so excited about opening a present. Grabbing the parcel, she plopped down on the bed and, reading the note one last time, ripped it open. It was exactly what she had expected it to be- a cloak. But it was certainly the most beautiful and expensive cloak she would probably ever wear in her life.  
  
It was thick, heavy dark green fabric, with a strong silver clasp at the throat. It had pockets on the inside, and the bottom hem was lined with black velvet, as well as the hood. The sleeves were long and belled, but the whole cloak was exactly her size, if not a size or so big. Perfect to grow into, she thought.  
  
Slipping it over her shoulders and clipping the clasp, she brought up the heavy hood to rest on her head and walked silently over to the mirror. She smiled at her reflection; she looked dark and dangerous, something frighteningly different from the former bright Ginny. She twirled around and let the heavy fabric swirl around her legs before settling back comfortably in its position. Then she turned to the door and silently opened it, peering down the staircase. She didn't know why, but wearing something so expensive made her feel wonderfully safe. Like she had a shield around her whole body.  
  
Now, where to go? Where would Draco be, on Christmas night? She wandered silently around the school, peering around corners and slipping through doorways. Finally, she reached the library. Wondering why on earth he would be in here, she walked into it and down the aisles of books, until again she reached the place for studying by the fire. And there he was, sitting in a large black chair. She smirked but didn't make a sound as she slowly crept up behind him. She watched as he closed his eyes and brought a hand up to rest on his forehead, and he sighed deeply.  
  
And suddenly, she sat down on his lap. He grunted and his hand jerked from his face, his eyes snapping open. He stared at her for a moment, bewildered, before realizing that it was Ginny.  
  
"Merry Christmas, Draco," she murmured, smiling up at him. She watched as his eyebrows raised. "Oh, yes, the cloak." She sprang off of him and stood up, opening her arms widely and twirling around again. He smirked.  
  
"It suites you," he remarked. This was a major compliment given, in his opinion.  
  
She grinned and sat back down on his lap. "Thank you. For the cloak, too. Sorry I didn't get you anything in return, I just didn't really expect you to give me anything," she said, her voice lowering. He wrapped his arms around her waist and let her lean against him.  
  
"Oh, that's all right, I don't really care. It wasn't that expensive." She snorted and held up one arm, fiddling with the black velvet lining.  
  
"It's beautiful," she whispered.  
  
"Just like you," he replied, turning her around and kissing her softly. She curled up on his lap so that her head rested on his shoulder.  
  
"What other presents did you get?" he asked.  
  
"Do you care?"  
  
"No." She giggled and peered up into his face.  
  
"I didn't think so." Suddenly, she saw something in his eyes. She didn't know what it was; she had seen it before, somewhere else, but that time it was full of cruelty. This time, it was lust.  
  
"Come on," he said, standing up abruptly, still carrying her. She raised her eyebrows and turned her head so that she could see where they were going as he carried her out of the library and into the hallway.  
  
"Draco? Where are you taking me?"  
  
"I don't know, anywhere," he replied. And then she realized what he wanted. She squirmed in his arms until he dropped her. He stopped and stared. "What?"  
  
"Draco, no. I won't go, I won't do it. Not now, not anywhere...I'm only fifteen, Draco!" she whimpered, staring up at him. His expression softened for a moment, but she could still see that glint in his eyes.  
  
"I don't care. Come on, Ginny." He began to walk again down the hallway.  
  
"No!" she yelled, and he stopped again.  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I won't do anything without your consent," he whispered, leaning down and quickly kissing her. Sighing, she let him grab her hand and pull her along. "Ah, look, a broom closet." Her eyes widened with surprise as he reached forward and grabbed the handle. "Damnit, it's locked." He stood still for a moment and then whipped out his wand. "Alohamora." The lock sprang open and he pushed the door forward, dragging Ginny into the dark.  
  
When the door shut, darkness engrossed the two of them and she stiffened. Suddenly, in the dark somewhere, she heard a noise. A low moan, and then shuffling of feet, and the unmistakable rustle of clothing. Ginny screamed. And from the dark, someone shrieked, and it sounded like a girl. Draco cursed and fumbled for his wand, pulling it out. "Lumos," he whispered, and light filled the closet. Ginny screamed again when she saw who it was.  
  
She first saw brown hair, then realized that it was curly and bushy. It was Hermione. She was against the wall, with a boy standing in front of her. He had a mop of tight, black curls on the top of his head, his skin was dark and he looked terribly bewildered. His hands were elsewhere up her shirt and her arms were draped around her neck, and both of their lips looked red and swollen. Hermione's eyes widened when she realized it was Ginny.  
  
"Hermione!" Ginny gasped, staring at her.  
  
"Ginny! What the hell? What are you doing here?" She cried. That was odd, Hermione never cussed, if you even call that cussing.  
  
"Who are you?" Ginny yelled at the unknown boy.  
  
"Uh, I'm Robbie," he said slowly, staring from Hermione to Ginny. He hardly seemed to notice Draco, who was standing back in the dark, smirking, his eyes glimmering with excitement.  
  
Ginny screamed randomly again. "Robbie! This is Robbie, Hermione? That seventh year that you're supposedly 'tutoring'?" she shrieked, pointing an angry finger at the boy. Hermione looked extremely flustered.  
  
"Yes, so? And why are you here with Draco, Ginny? Should Ron know about this?" Ginny let out a sound of terrible anger.  
  
"Oh, that's horseshit, Hermione! Yes, Draco is here with me, and does Ron care? NO! I think he'd care a little bit more that his supposed 'girlfriend' is here in a broom closet on Christmas night, making out with some guy! You lied to him, Hermione, why shouldn't I tell him?"  
  
Hermione gasped. "You wouldn't," she whispered.  
  
"Watch me," Ginny hissed venomously. Hermione gasped and suddenly a tear ran down her cheek, but Ginny was far past caring about her.  
  
"You have a boyfriend?" Robbie asked quietly. At this, Ginny burst into insane laughter. The three other people stared at her, bewildered, until she abruptly stopped and stared at him.  
  
"You didn't know? Everyone knows! 'Oh, Ron and Hermione, the cutest couple!' 'Didn't you hear? Hermione and Ron are going out! They're so perfect for each other!'" Ginny scoffed, eyes glimmering with anger, imitating the gossiping girls of Hogwarts. "Yes, Hermione has a boyfriend, my older brother! They've been going out for almost two years! How could you not know?" she shrieked.  
  
"Well, I've seen them together, but whenever I asked 'Mione here about it, she said that it was just because they were best friends!" Hermione was now in full tears, shaking her bushy head.  
  
"No, Robbie, she's lying!" Hermione cried. "Don't listen to her, she's jealous!"  
  
"Jealous?" Ginny yelled, waving her arms around insanely. "Jealous? Ha! Oh yes, jealous of what, dear Hermione? Of an annoyingly humongous brain, of being called 'mudblood' and 'know-it-all' every five seconds? I'd hardly doubt that, Hermione, or 'Mione, as you're now called by your other boyfriend." Hermione's eyes were red as she wiped them on her shirt, which she then hastily buttoned, seeing as it was mostly open to the public at the moment. Just then, Draco gently tugged on Ginny's arm.  
  
"Let's go," he murmured in her ear. She glared at Hermione again.  
  
"No. I want to tell Ron. I want to go back to the Gryffindor tower and tell Ron about Hermione's other lover."  
  
"Lover? Lover?! No, he's just my boyfriend!"  
  
Ginny snorted. "Lover, boyfriend, same thing. I don't even want to know what you two have been doing in all of the other broom closets of this school." And with that, Ginny slammed the door open and stomped violently out, dragging Draco with her. Robbie stared, still bewildered and slightly confused, at Hermione. Then, shaking his head, he turned and walked away, leaving Hermione to sob, all alone, in the broom closet.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- Aha! Told 'ya Hermione was going down! Oh, I'm still laughing, writing that was really fun. Poor Robbie. I almost feel sorry for him. Well, anyways, tell me what you think about that little encounter. And yes, Ginny is going to tell Ron, therefore ruining the rest of Hermione's life. Sorry, folks, but that's the way it goes. *beams*  
  
Oh and another sorta important thing- I've read a lotta lotta lotta fics where Draco gives Ginny or Hermione a cloak for Christmas, depending on what kind of ship it is. If you read this and in your story someone gets a cloak, I'm really sorry, I wasn't copying you, I just thought it was a good idea and that it tied into the fact that she lost her cloak the day before. So yeah, don't get all pissed, a lot of people use that. :)  
  
~Clarae  
  
OH YES and thanks SOOO much, all you wonderful folks out there who rambled pointlessly on. That was so wonderful to read. Long, random-ass reviews. *sigh* How much better can you get? Sorry this was a terribly long authors note, and THATS IT!! :) 


	12. Death to Pansy

Disclaimer: If you think everything other than the plot is mine than I seriously suggest you go to a mental hospital. They're nice there. They'll help you..  
  
Authors Note- So yes, Hermione went down. And she's going to plummet even further to the lowest of all civilization in this chapter. BUT I'M NOT SAYING ANYTHING HAHAHAHA..*tranquilizers are injected into Clare's neck and she stops and falls suddenly, lying perfectly still* Oh and this is going to be a long chapter, just warning you. And...THANKS to K-K, who was my 100th reviewer. YAAAY!  
  
Chapter Twelve  
  
Ginny stormed down the hallway, dragging Draco along with her, who didn't seem all that eager to go flying into the Gryffindor common room. But Ginny was determined on rooting Hermione out. Hermione had gone too far, lying continually to Ron, as well as Robbie. Poor Robbie. He probably had no clue what was going on in the slightest.  
  
Finally they reached the Gryffindor tower and Ginny stopped abruptly, causing Draco to crash into her.  
  
"Oh, I forgot, you have to go away now," she said, arms crossed, looking very smug and superior indeed.  
  
"Why thanks for telling me, now that we're on the whole other damn side of the school," he muttered sarcastically. He sighed. "Well, that was a fun little encounter. Are you going to tell your brother about Granger the Almighty Slut?"  
  
"Of course," she said, grinning with a new spark of evil in her eyes that Draco had never seen before. "Hermione's not going to get away with this. Not after.." The portrait door suddenly flew open, and Morgan clambered out. At first she didn't notice the two of them standing there, but when she did, her eyes widened and she stared.  
  
"Ginny!" She gasped. "Who-is that Malfoy? What are you doing with Malfoy?"  
  
"Nothing, Morgan, nothing," Ginny said quickly. She put a hand on Draco's chest and shoved him away. He stumbled backwards. "Go away, Malfoy, I don't have need for your endless tormenting," she snapped. Draco smirked. She really was witty and fast thinking, especially in moments like that when their 'secret' relationship was at stake of being known. She winked at him and he pretended to glare down at her. But he didn't say anything, he just stared into her sparkling brown eyes and then, snapping himself out of his trance, he marched away. Ginny turned back to Morgan.  
  
"Yeah, sorry Morgan, he was yet again using all those unoriginal insults that he made up in first year, about my family's wealth." She snorted and took Morgan's elbow. "Let's go to the Common Room, shall we? Is Ron in there?" Morgan blinked; Ginny was sure she didn't believe her little insult-story. She hoped that Hermione wouldn't end up telling the world about them being together.  
  
"Oh, yes, Ron's there, but-I was going to the kitchens really quickly, I'm still starving," she said. Ginny shrugged.  
  
"Right, okay. But, um, is Emma in there?" Ginny asked. Morgan shook her head, her long black hair shimmering in the dim torchlight. It was rippled from the tight braids it had been in previously. Ginny smiled at her friend and watched as Morgan walked away. She felt strangely treacherous, as if her relationship with Draco was something awful that Morgan should know about.  
  
Looking down, Ginny realized that she was still wearing Draco's cloak. (Or her cloak now, really) A stab of panic rushed through her chest; that was probably why Morgan looked so uncertain, so suspecting. She knew something was up. Cursing fluently, she unclasped the silver clasp and swung it off her body. Immediately she felt ten pounds lighter. Now, what to do with it? Wadding it up, she stuffed it under her arm. There. It looked like she was just carrying a pile of..thick, expensive green fabric. Sighing heavily, she gave the Fat Lady the password and entered the Common Room.  
  
It was thick with students and bustling excitedly with the Christmas Spirit that still hung in the air, stubborn and unwilling to leave. So, Emma wasn't there. Oh well, she needed to find Ron, anyways. Walking around, she peered at every face until she found Ron and Harry sitting near the fire in some of the good seats, playing a very lively game of Wizard's Chess.  
  
"'lo, Ginny," Harry said through clenched teeth as he watched one of his knights get smashed to smithereens by one of Ron's very aggressive pawns. Ron smirked and then looked up.  
  
"Hey, Gin." Ron said casually, not looking up. Ginny grabbed a conveniently placed chair and heaved it over, plopping down in it.  
  
"I have news for you, Ron, and I seriously doubt that you'll be overjoyed to hear it." She spoke quietly, but in an urgent tone. Ron looked up, looking vaguely surprised.  
  
"Can it wait?" he asked stupidly.  
  
"No," she said flatly. "Ron, I was.." She paused, thinking. How would she say that she was randomly busting open locked broom closets, all alone, on Christmas night? That was hardly plausible. Wracking her brain, she quickly came up with a pathetic excuse for her unusual story. "Ron, I was running an errand for..er, McGonagall, and I passed by a broom closet on the fourth floor and I heard some..odd noises, let's say. So, I opened the door and do you know who I saw?"  
  
"Sorry, Gin, but I don't know and I don't really care," Ron said rudely. Harry raised his eyebrows and Ginny glared at her brother but continued to speak.  
  
"Is your relationship with Hermione going well, Ron?" It was slightly off topic, but she didn't care.  
  
"Um, does it matter? And yes, it's going quite well, thank you. After that stupid rumor about her and Robbie finished going around, I realized she would never lie to me. Hermione's too perfect." A dreamy look filled his eyes and he sighed happily. Ginny wanted to laugh loudly at this, but held the urge.  
  
"Sorry, Ron, but I must let you know that that 'stupid rumor' wasn't a lie. For Hermione was in the broom closet, making out with Robbie. Her shirt was totally hanging open and it was quite an interesting sight," she said, her voice filled with triumph. Ron's jaw dropped and he stared at her, mouthing wordlessly.  
  
"What?? Ginny-no, that's wrong! Stop lying, Ginny, you're just doing it for attention!" He stared at her in disbelief. Ginny grinned, which freaked out Ron even further.  
  
"No, Ron, I don't really want much attention, actually. I just wanted to let you know that Hermione is the total attention-starving bitch, cheating on her boyfriend! Actually, ha, she was cheating on Robbie, too! He didn't even know--" She was cut off by someone hurling themselves in front of her, shoving her backwards. The person was Hermione.  
  
"Ah, speak of the devil," Ginny hissed to Hermione's back. She heaved Hermione away and peered anxiously at Ron, but Hermione spoke first.  
  
"Whatever she's saying, Ron, it's a lie!" Hermione's voice was filled with panic and her eyes flitted around from Ron to Harry. Ginny laughed aloud at this, cruelly.  
  
"Ah, news flash, Hermione, it's not a lie. I was just the one who found you going at it with Robbie, your other boyfriend!" Hermione opened her mouth in fury at this and began to speak, but Ron cut her off.  
  
"Hermione? Is this true? It seems sort of like..well, that Ginny's not lying," he said softly. He looked as though he was going to cry.  
  
"Yes, Ron! I mean..no! No, Ron, NO! I didn't do it, I didn't--" She burst into tears, and for a small moment, Ginny felt sort of sorry for her, but immediately she scolded herself. It was Hermione who was lying to poor, unsuspecting boys and just being a total retard.  
  
"If it's not, prove it to me, Hermione," he said softly.  
  
"Yeah, Hermione," Harry said. Ginny snorted. That was his little interjection? My, my, he certainly was clever. Hermione rounded on Ginny.  
  
"Why are you so intent on rooting me out? So you found me doing that, ha, good job! Well you can just go to hell, Ginny, because I.." She stopped talking and clapped a hand to her mouth. She had just admitted it. Ginny, too, was surprised, but pleased.  
  
"Nice, Hermione," Harry said quietly. Ron looked terrified, betrayed and scandalized at one time, his brown eyes glimmering with tears. But he blinked quickly and they ebbed away, revealing eyes full of anger now.  
  
"You..you bitch! Hermione, how could you do that?! My god, we've been going out for over a year, and you just throw it away? You throw away everything? What does this Robbie got that I don't have, huh? A lot of money? Hell, you might as well go for Malfoy then, too! Maybe you already have! How would I know? If you wanted this Robbie freak then you could have just told me, I would have let you go, it would have been a little easier than this!!" Ron exploded, glaring down at her, his face read and splotchy. Hermione was sitting on the floor, leaning against the side of Harry's chair, sobbing furiously. She gasped for breath and stood, quavering slightly. She stood still for a moment and then threw herself at Ron.  
  
"Ron!" she sobbed. "No, Ron, I love you! I really, really do! And I'd never go for Malfoy, Ron.." Ron pushed her away, staring at her as though she was total filth. Ginny suddenly noticed how the Common Room had gone strangely quiet, and everyone was staring at them uncomfortably, whispers flitting across the tense atmosphere.  
  
"Told 'ya so," Ginny said annoyingly to Ron. He rounded on her raised his hand as if to slap her, but dropped it. He stared at her for a moment, as though just realizing that she had been telling the truth and that she actually cared about him. He went forward and hugged her affectionately.  
  
"Thanks," he whispered in her ear. Then he went up into his dormitories. Hermione, too, stormed over, but this time she really did slap Ginny. It was terribly hard, powered from all of Hermione's anger. Ginny stumbled backward, her hand automatically going up to her face. She fingered the stinging skin for a moment and then rounded on Hermione, punching her in the eye. A gasp rose from the watching crowd of Gryffindors as Hermione shrieked and stumbled backwards, getting conveniently caught by Harry. Harry smiled for a moment and then, realizing what he was doing, dropped her on her butt on the ground. She began to cry again, gingerly touching her swelling eye.  
  
"Bitch," Ginny spat, towering over the form of Hermione on the floor. "Do not think about messing up Ron's life. Or mine, thank you very much, because you will fail horribly. Yeah, you've got brains, but you haven't got any common sense," she hissed. She turned around and began to walk towards the girls dormitories stairs before pausing and dashing back to her previous chair, grabbing her cloak, and running back up again, not hearing the gossip-breeding whispers forming throughout the room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
The door to Ginny's dormitory swung open and Celia, Emma and Morgan all stormed in, talking loudly between themselves. Morgan was waving her arms around for emphases on something, and Celia was loudly disagreeing. Suddenly they caught sight of Ginny and the three of them raced over. (Apparently Morgan and Emma had decided to accept Celia, because of her generous Christmas gifts)  
  
"Ginny! What did you do to Hermione? We saw her and she started raving on about how we were the friends of a whore or something!" Ginny chuckled at Emma's outburst.  
  
"Well, I just told the truth," she said vaguely. She laughed again. "You should've been there, it was wonderful, rooting Hermione out like that. Technically, she admitted it, though. I didn't do much." Ginny changed positions on her bed to better cover up the cloak that was stuffed under her pillow. Emma and Morgan seated themselves on Ginny's bed, and Celia stood there uncomfortably before Morgan patted the bed beside her and Celia clambered up.  
  
"Well, what did Hermione do?" Celia asked. Ginny grinned and told the story, but skipped the part about being with Draco. She explained almost the entire conversation that they had just had down in the Common Room, and Emma's eyes sparkled.  
  
"Good for you, Ginny!" she cried, grinning. Morgan's jaw dropped.  
  
"Emma! Don't say that, that's awful! Ginny, you told Ron?"  
  
"Well of course, what did you expect me to do?" Ginny said, immediately getting defensive.  
  
"Tell Ron in private! Don't make such a big scene! Put yourselves in Hermione's shoes, Ginny. Would you like it if that happened to you? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," Morgan said, always the wise one. Ginny stared at her for a moment, and then sighed.  
  
"Yeah, well, what's done is done. Hermione deserved it. And poor Robbie, he had no clue what was going on. He just thought Hermione was being faithful to him." She shook her head and slowly heaved herself out of bed. She looked at the clock and realized that it was nearly eleven thirty; she was surprised that most people were still down in the Common Room. Oh well, it was Christmas Night, and people did have a reason to be jolly and merry.  
  
So, the four of them descended once again into the Common Room and joined into the festivities, though Ginny was frequently glared at by unknown older girls, or asked questions like 'how could you? Hermione's so nice!' She didn't answer to those. Thomas, Daniel, Will and John congratulated her, saying how they never did like that 'prat of a know-it- all,' and how she was 'too smart for her own damn good.' Will told her to her face that he really hated it when couples kept secrets about their romantic life from each other, and at this, Ginny just nodded stupidly and kept conversation away from that subject.  
  
After a while, though, everyone began to get groggy, tired, and bored of talking about their gifts. So again, the girls climbed up the 'stairway to heaven,' as the perverted boys liked to call it. Or the stairway to pleasure, depending on how immature that certain male was. But the girls just collapsed into their beds and fell asleep almost immediately, their minds floating away into the silly, fantasy-filled dreamlands of their own accords, where their crushes proposed their undying love and the sky was always blue and sunny. In hers, Ginny saw Draco as her knight in shining armor, coming to rescue her from a sea of barbed wire that was her imprisonment. But, as usual, she didn't remember the dream the next day.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
The next morning at breakfast, Ginny was quite pleased to see that Hermione had a black eye. Harry and Ron weren't hanging out with her, so she was sitting next to Parvati at the far end of the table. Her hair was a little messier and bushier than usual, and she looked very disgruntled.  
  
Well, at least it was still winter break, so they didn't have any classes. It was snowing again outside, with thick, puffy snowflakes falling at extreme speeds. It was so cold that the lake was completely frozen over, and now had a thick layer of snow blanketing the top, and if one looked across the entire grounds, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the ground and the lake. Ron wasn't very happy about this, because they wouldn't be able to practice Quidditch. Of course, half the team was at home for the break, so that wasn't really possible anyways. Ginny kept hoping to see Draco; she was itching to tell him all about telling Ron about Hermione and then punching Hermione. But maybe she would leave out the part when she got slapped.  
  
Morgan was in a bad mood again, so she stayed in the Common Room and did some History of Magic essays, as well as a chart for Astronomy. Emma was too polite to leave her all alone in the empty Common Room; everyone else was romping out in the freezing-cold snow and dribbling water all over the floors of the hallways, causing people to slip and fall painfully on their butts. Ginny knew she had to do a lot of Arithmancy work, but she was a terrible procrastinator, so she decided to do it the next day. After all, they had four days left until the end of the break.  
  
Ginny eventually decided to go outside and try how warm her new cloak was against the cold. Smuggling it out of her dormitory, she put it on in the hallway and grinned to herself. She felt so rich when she wore something like that. Pulling up the hood to hide her hair, she clasped the front and stepped outside. The cloak kept her wonderfully warm as she trudged through the shin-high layers of snow. She watched some fourth-year Hufflepuffs have a wild, violent snowball fight, and then saw Thomas, Will, Daniel and John huddled together against the wind. Gasping, she quickly darted away from sight. She didn't really feel like conversing with them.  
  
Kicking the snow out in front of her to make a path to walk through, she reached the dreaded wall where memories of only three nights ago flooded back into her mind. Whimpering, she took a few steps back and suddenly bumped into something. Or someone, actually. Shrieking, she leapt forward and whirled around.  
  
"Well, well, we meet again. I see you're wearing your cloak," Draco said smoothly, smirking down at her. She sighed a huge sigh of relief and wrapped the thick fabric tighter around her.  
  
"Yeah, it's so warm. Thank you, Draco." Suddenly, she grinned. "Oh, you should've seen me the other night. I actually punched Hermione," she boasted, swelling with pride. At this, Draco laughed loudly.  
  
"Did you really? Tell me what happened. Wait, just a moment," he said, and pulled out his wand. Saying a quick spell that Ginny had never heard before, he pointed the wand at the base of a tree, and the snow around it just exploded away, leaving clear, dry grass. He sat down on it and Ginny sat next to him. Talking eagerly, she explained what happened, and Draco could just feel her glowing with enthusiasm.  
  
When she finished, he offered her his praise and they fell silent. It wasn't awkward, just comforting, as she snuggled up against his side. He wrapped his arm protectively around her and just stared off into the snow. He didn't notice it, but very soon, she fell asleep. He chuckled deeply and stroked a bit of her hair that had strayed from its hold behind her hood. She must've stayed up later than I did, he thought. Oh well, she did well, hurting the mudblood's pride so.  
  
~*~*~*~*~ However, high in the Slytherin Tower, a certain blonde-haired girl sat at her windowsill, staring out of the glass, down to the base of a tree, where she could see two figures sitting against the cold. Her piercing gaze raked across them, and she realized that it was Draco. Yes, Draco snuggling with the youngest Weasley. It wasn't hard to tell that it was Ginny; just the single strand of hair that had fallen from her hood gave t all away. But the cloak, it looked so expensive...  
  
Pansy snorted in disgust and leapt down from her perch, storming across the room to the door. Flinging it open, she rushed downstairs into the Slytherin Common Room. It was almost completely empty, so she angrily sat down in a high-backed, green leather chair facing the fire. Her pale eyes glimmered with jealousy. So that's what he wanted, a poor, pathetic redhead? He knew of Pansy's adoration of him! Why was he completely ignoring it? I'm everything he could possibly want, she thought furiously. I'm beautiful, I'm rich, my father is a Death Eater, our families are long- time allies..what more could he want in a girl? And what the hell did he see in a Weasley?  
  
Well if he wants to play at that game, she thought angrily, then I'll just have to join him. She grinned and suddenly cackled as she thought of a plan. Why, she was brilliant! It wasn't hard. No, it wasn't hard at all. There was one thing that she knew about that could tear Ginny violently away from Draco, leaving her as a pathetic, loveless freak, if she knew. Yes, Pansy would tell her. She would tell her about the little piece of parchment up in Draco's bedroom, with the tally marks. That was all she needed. Weasley was stupid; she'd believe. She'd realize that Draco never loved her in the first place.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- Yeah, a cliffhanger, too bad. FLAME ME, FLAME ME ALL OF YOU, I DON'T CARE! HAHAHA! No, actually please don't flame, and you can complain about the cliffie all you want but I won't change it. I like cliffies. They're fun to write. They're full of SUSPENCE, I tell you! SUSPENCE! So yeah, complain or praise, just leave a review and I'll be forever in your debt. Or not. Either way's fine with me. ~Clare  
  
And please tell me if that was too OOC for Ginny, with her telling Ron and stuff. She was just really mad. Yeah. That's it. 


	13. Pansy Wreaks Havoc, you could say

Disclaimer- Nothing you recognize is mine, dammit!  
  
Authors Note- Tons of apologies, folks, this chapter was really screwed the first time I posted it- it was all one big paragraph. Thanks to Ace of Spades who pointed that out, because otherwise I probably wouldn't have noticed. So yeah. The end.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Classes started again, so Ginny actually had things to do in the afternoons. She struggled over charts and essays with Emma and Morgan, but her mind continually wandered off to Draco. Ah, how he had completely captivated her entire mind. He was like a drug, something to be addicted to, something she couldn't get enough of. How could he do that? It was practically against the law; she couldn't think properly and often zoned out during her classes.  
  
It was odd; it seemed like Will really wanted to be serious with her. Whenever he tried to talk to her about this, she conveniently remembered another homework assignment she had to do or she changed the subject to Quidditch. Perhaps he suspected something, perhaps he didn't. Ginny did like him; she couldn't deny that, with his courteous ways and the fact that he was very handsome. But she couldn't do anything with him. They'd just have to be friends.  
  
A couple of times Ginny and Draco crashed into each other in the hallways, and he would drag her into a broom closet or an empty classroom for quick, few-minute snogging sessions. Each time it got more heated, but she would pull away hurriedly, smiling mischievously but saying she had to run off to class. Draco didn't know what he would do with her. She was so beautiful and bright, but their relationship could never go anywhere past secret.  
  
One Saturday, Ginny was sitting up in the crowds, watching the weekly Quidditch game. It was Gryffindor against Slytherin, and so far, Slytherin was winning. Morgan was sitting next to her, screaming herself hoarse, yelling encouragements to the Gryffindor team and spitting angrily at the Slytherins. Emma was just watching the game with keen eyes, snapping frequently at Ginny about how something was unfair or how that should be a foul.  
  
Ginny was watching the Slytherin Seeker mostly, seeing as it was Draco. He looked so handsome and strong sitting up on his expensive broomstick, his silvery eyes flitting across the field, bent on finding the Snitch before Harry did. She was secretly wishing for Slytherin to win, but cheered for Gryffindor all the same. She didn't really care who won.  
  
Ron, one of the Chasers, (as well as captain) was zooming through the air, the Quaffle under his arm. Just then a Slytherin chaser flew up behind him and batted the ball out of his grasp and flew off with it. Ron's face was screwed up with concentration, and soon enough he got the Quaffle back. Ginny sighed and sat back, watching the game casually. Ron passed the Quaffle to Will, and Will scored easily, bringing the scores to a tie.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I do not believe Slytherin won," Morgan snapped as they walked back to the castle. It had been a spectacular win, though, with Harry and Draco speeding around the field, and at the last minute, Draco had performed a Wronski Feint and Harry had crashed headlong into the grass; Draco soared upward and caught the Snitch. Ginny was about to leap out of her seat, cheering for him, but caught herself just in time.  
  
"Yeah, but it was a fair game," Emma remarked. "Well I bet it wasn't. It was Slytherin, after all, they'll do anything just to win," Morgan replied harshly. Daniel, who didn't play on the team, was walking quickly along with them, talking hurriedly to Jon. The clump of them made their way back to the Gryffindor tower and settled into chairs. Morgan muttered something about having more homework and she stomped up into their dormitories and after a quick, apologetic look towards Ginny, Emma followed her. Terribly bored, Ginny decided to wander aimlessly around the hallways. After all, who knows who she might bump into?  
  
Leaving the Common Room, she walked for a moment and then decided to go down to the kitchens; she could use a little food. She had slept in and missed breakfast. Clomping down a flight of stairs, she rounded a corner to see someone leaning against the wall. She stopped for a moment as the person moved in front of her, blocking her way. Studying the girls face, Ginny realized that it was the Slytherin girl who had gone to the ball with Draco in his fourth year. The girl held out her hand.  
  
"Hello, I'm Pansy. Pansy Parkinson, and you must be.." She paused for a moment, her pale eyes scanning Ginny. Ginny felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. "Ginny Weasley, am I correct?"  
  
"Yes," Ginny said slowly. "But I fail to see what it is to you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm on my way somewhere," she said icily. Pansy smiled, her overly plucked eyebrows rising.  
  
"Ah yes, but I want to talk with you. I have some information that might be very valuable to you. Come along with me." She grabbed Ginny's wrist and they began to walk in the opposite direction. Pansy began to speak again. "Now, Ginny, I'm not a fool. I know of your relationship with Draco." Ginny suddenly pulled away, staring at her. She opened her mouth to speak but Pansy continued. "No need to act all surprised, no one else knows. I've just been..ah, observing you two, shall we say? Yes, anyways, I realize that the two of you are quite close, but I have some sad news for you."  
  
"Then I don't really want to hear it, thank you," Ginny said. Pansy laughed and Ginny winced. Goodness, it was high-pitched. Pansy brought her extremely bright red nails (again) up to Ginny's cheek, but she stepped back.  
  
"Yes, anyways. Ginny, this is for your own good. I'm telling you this because I care about you. I don't want you to get hurt by Draco."  
  
"Draco would never hurt me," Ginny said, but Pansy could tell she caught her interest. "I know that, dear. I'm saying..emotionally. You see, I've been in his bedroom numerous times," she said casually, waving her hand around.  
  
"What? Why? Are you saying that you've..you've slept with him?" "Yes. That is exactly what I'm saying, Ginny, and I decided that it would be best for you to know. I've slept with your little boyfriend. So has the girl Adrian who he went to the Yule Ball with, so has Blaise's girlfriend, Ana, before they got together, that is. So has another Slytherin girl named Clarissa, and another named Lisa, and another named- oh, the point is, Ginny Weasley, Draco's using you." Her smirk widened, triumph gleaming in her eyes. Ginny's stared at her.  
  
"What? But he- he told me that he never sleeps with random girls, he says that's sick-" "That's what you think," Pansy interrupted. "But up on his bedside table is a little piece of parchment. I've seen it, dear, I'm not lying. It has tally marks all over it. Tally marks and girls names, and dates. What do you think that means? Girl's names? Does that not at all rouse your suspicion?" "No," Ginny whispered.  
  
"No, that's not true! NO!"  
  
"Don't lie to yourself, Weasley," she spat. "Draco doesn't love you! He wants you just for the sake of having you. You're just there, another little female for him to use and pretend to love. You're just another fish in the sea. I know Draco, Ginny! I've known him for years! He's handsome and brilliant but let me tell you- he uses girls. That's all. You mean nothing to him, and that paper proves it." She took a deep breath and stepped back, crossing her arms over her rather large (and fake looking) chest. "Sorry to burst your romantic little bubble." Ginny couldn't think straight. That wasn't true! Draco loved her! He told her that numerous times, she could feel it when he kissed her. Pansy was lying. But..was she? She felt a tear run down her cheek, and she shook her head, glaring at the girl in front of her.  
  
"You're lying!" she shrieked, turning on her heel and running. She could hear Pansy shout 'See for yourself!' behind her, but she didn't care. She skidded through the halls and out the front door, racing across the grounds. She threw herself onto the grass underneath a tree and sat against it, sobbing hysterically. She felt so terribly betrayed. He didn't love her? The brave, gallant boy who had saved her from rape a few weeks ago didn't care about her? No, Pansy was lying, she told herself. But it wasn't convincing enough.  
  
Thinking hard, Ginny realized that Draco was exactly the kind of person who would do that. That was who he was- a slimy, sneaking, lying Slytherin. What had she actually hoped was in him? Good? No, that wasn't possible. She broke down into tears again. Just then, she heard footsteps in front of her.  
  
"Gin? Ginny, what's up?" Ginny's head snapped up to see who she least wanted to see- Draco. She sprang up onto her feet, glaring at him, her eyes flashing.  
  
"Oh, not like you care! Why should I tell you what's up if it won't make the slightest difference in your life? I know your little ways; Pansy just told me everything I need to know! You don't care about me! Don't try to get all sentimental on me now, don't try to kiss me, and don't try to lie again to mend my broken heart!" she screamed, waving her fists around. Draco caught her wrists and stared at her, his eyes confused.  
  
"What the hell? What are you talking about, and what did that Pansy bitch tell you?"  
  
"You should know, Malfoy," she hissed, wrenching her hands from his grasp. "How you sleep with all those other girls! That's what she told me, Malfoy!" Malfoy. She was using his last name. "I know that she's not lying, I was thinking about it, and that's just who you are! A lying, stinking.." She couldn't continue. She stumbled and fell to the ground and put her face in her hands, sill crying. His heart was pounding in his chest; she knew. Now she would never return to him. Thinking quickly, he knelt next to her and put a hand on her arm. She didn't move. "She was lying, Ginny," he said slowly, trying to convince himself. Now he was the liar, but he couldn't tell her that.  
  
"She-Pansy's jealous, Ginny. She....she just wanted to get you angry, to take you away from me. She's had a crush-or more than a crush, really, on me since like third year, and..yeah," he said quietly. She stopped crying for a moment and turned to look at him, her eyes red and wet.  
  
"Really?" she whispered. He forced a smile on his lips.  
  
"Yeah. It's not true. She's jealous of the fact that we've been together, I know it, and I've seen her get all pissed. Don't believe her."  
  
"Oh. But-how can I believe you? How do I know that you're not the one lying? I don't want to just be another one of your little victims, Draco!" Draco. It was Draco again.  
  
"Well..I don't know, Gin, but I know I'm not lying," he lied. She sighed and suddenly moved towards him. He seated himself comfortably on the grass and she crawled up into his lap, resting her head on his shoulder.  
  
"Thanks, Draco," she murmured. He just stared off into space, feeling terribly cruel. He knew that he really had feelings for her, if he actually felt bad about lying to her. Usually, lying was just a normal thing, a thing he did just to convince girls to do things. The sun began to set, it's brilliant, blood red ink spilling across the sky, drenching the clouds and spewing its brilliance everywhere.  
  
Draco gently shook her, to see if she was awake. She murmured something and slowly sat up, her red hair falling down about her face. He smiled.  
  
"I'm tired," she whispered. He grinned. This was his chance.  
  
"I believe I can fix that." Standing up, he put one arm under her knees and she looped her arms around his neck, and he hoisted her up. She kept her head on his shoulder. Walking slowly, he carried her up numerous flights of stairs until he reached the Slytherin Common Room, then he stopped How would he walk in there with an unmistakable Weasley in his arms? He just took his cloak and draped it over her head, and he heard her giggle. It made him smile. Hoping no one would notice, he whispered the password and, trying to be inconspicuous, made his way up to his separate dormitory. (a/n- don't ask me why he has a separate dorm, he just does, so go along with it for the sake of the plot)  
  
Dumping her down on the bed, he leaned backward and heard his back crack. She was light, but carrying her across half the school was painful. Disentangling herself from her robes, Ginny sat up and rubbed her eyes, like a child waking from a deep slumber.  
  
"Oh, Draco," she gasped. "Is this your dorm?" He grinned and leaned down over her.  
  
"It most certainly is," he said, before kissing her. Then he walked away and pulled off his cloak, dumping it in a heap on the floor, and then his sweater and shoes, so he was merely wearing a black t-shirt and the black school pants. She laughed randomly. She looked around the room with excited eyes, taking in all of the expensive surroundings. She was sitting on a huge, queen-sized bed with black and forest green sheets and pillowcases. Running a finger along some creases, she sighed with content and then her eyes wandered over to the bedside table. And suddenly, she saw a little, crumpled piece of parchment. And she realized with a jolt of horror that Pansy hadn't been lying at all.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- Yeah, a cliffie, live with it. Review, please. 


	14. THE END, I TELL YOU, THE END

Disclaimer- I own nothing but the plot.  
  
Authors Note- Arg, I'm SO pissed, this damn computer totally messed up when I tried to upload this document and freaking deleted it from my disk, so now, I have to re-write it. Sorry if it's not too fantastically good. I'm just mad. *smashes computer with baseball bat* Oh and thanks for the reviews, everybody!!! Yay!  
  
Chapter Fourteen  
  
Ginny stared at it for a moment, her brain not really registering what she was seeing. Draco, standing in the middle of the room combing his hair, followed her gaze and immediately lunged for the paper, flinging his comb across the ground. But Ginny was quicker than that; she sprang forward and snatched it, leaping across the bed and holding it to her face to read it. Her eyes widened with anger.  
  
"What's this, Draco?" she shrieked, her eyes scanning the parchment, taking in the tally marks, dates and girls names.  
  
"Nothing!" he shouted, trying to pry it out of her fingers. It ripped clean in half and he stuffed his half in his pocket, his face coloring, but she had seen all that she needed to.  
  
"Nothing?" she yelled, waving the scrap in his face. "This is just what Pansy told me about! This is the paper! You're such a damn liar, Draco!" Her eyes were flashing and guilt pulled at Draco's heart.  
  
"No, Ginny, you're wrong. That paper..that paper has nothing to do with what Pansy said. I promise, Ginny. It's just a.."  
  
"Oh, don't insult me!" she spat, storming over so that she was standing in front of him. Despite her rather short height, she looked considerably taller, because of the way her hair was clouding around her face like fire, and the way her eyes were glinting, making her look like some kind of maniac. "I am NOT a fool! That is your..your whore-sheet, Malfoy! I don't believe that you could have possibly sunk that low to do something like that." She shook her head in disgust, her eyes suddenly welling with tears.  
  
"Ginny, no, I-"  
  
"Do you take pleasure in this, Malfoy? Do you like making me cry? Do you like lying to me, continually telling me that you love me when that's all fucking bullshit? God!" She threw the paper down with all the force she had, but it just fluttered to the ground. She stepped on it, grounding it into the carpet. "I hate you!" she shrieked. He winced; words like that were harsher than just cusses. "I hate you, I hate you, I HATE you! You have no right do that!"  
  
"Look, Ginny, fine. I'm sorry. Yeah, that was the paper, I admit it..but what is it do you?" She stared at him, her great big brown eyes now overflowing with tears.  
  
"Fine. If that's how you want it, that's okay with me. I'm past caring about the way you feel about me, I shouldn't have even trusted you. I should have known." And with that, she whirled around and began walking towards the door. Then Draco lunged forward, grabbing her shoulder and twisting her around. She shrieked with surprise.  
  
"No! You can't go down into the Common Room, you're a Weasley-" Oh dear, that was the wrong thing to say. She made a sound of disgust, looking terribly shocked.  
  
"I'm a Weasley? Oh! I get it now, Malfoy!" she spat. "I'm a Weasley, and if I go marching down into that Common Room, everyone will see me! And they'll know that Draco Malfoy had actually sunk that low as to associate or even--god forbid-- sleep with her! It'll ruin your reputation!" She stopped and suddenly began laughing; a high-pitched, slightly hysterical laugh that made Draco take one step back from her.  
  
"Ginny, no, don't go down in there. I just don't want..I just don't want-"  
  
"Well too bad! I've suffered enough pain for one night, Malfoy, but I think you deserve a little more." With that, she reached forward and grabbed the door handle, pulling it open. But Draco grabbed her arm and jerked it back, with such force that the door went flying open. She screamed and he shoved her away, shutting the door with a bang and locking it quickly. She fell to the floor with a thud.  
  
"Don't even think about moving, I think it's you that deserves a little more, coming in here and insulting me," he said, slowly and quietly. She sprang up and lunged for the door again, now terror filling her eyes as well as anger. But he grabbed one of her arms and twisted it behind her back, pulling her onto his chest. She screamed and he pushed her forcefully onto the floor, so that he was sitting on top of her, pinning her down. She couldn't move.  
  
"You'll regret this!" she suddenly yelled. He stopped wrenching at her wrists and smirked.  
  
"I will, will I?"  
  
"Yes, you will! You'll marry some awful Slytherin bitch who's all cold and who doesn't love you, who just wants you for your money! Then you'll regret leaving me here, then you'll regret hurting me! That's just the kind of person you are, Malfoy. You're just like your father. You don't care about the way other people feel, you just.." She stopped, not able to continue, and suddenly burst into hysterical tears. He stared at her for a moment, looking slightly shocked, the hard look in his eyes softening. He got off of her slowly and lifted her up, dumping her onto the bed. She curled up, sobbing into her knees.  
  
"Ah, Ginny, sorry, I.." he twisted at his hands, uncomfortable; he hated it when girls cried around him, and he hated apologizing. She sniffled loudly and looked up at him.  
  
"You're really sorry?" He nodded. "Well I don't believe you!" she shrieked, and a whole new wave of tears ripped at her throat and she began to cry again.  
  
"Why don't you believe me?"  
  
"Because I have no reason to, you just lie to me! You don't love me, you're just using me for my..womanly assets," she said, squirming. He tried to keep his face straight.  
  
"What can I do to prove that I love you?" he asked, actually wanting to know the answer.  
  
"Kiss me," she said, in barely above a whisper. He raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Excuse me? Haven't I done that enough in the past months?" She giggled suddenly, that familiar smile adorning her pink lips.  
  
"Well sure you have, Draco, but not for real. I want you to kiss me like you mean it." He laughed suddenly and leaned forward, one of his perfect eyebrows arching.  
  
"Whatever you say," he murmured, before pressing his lips to hers. The kiss was utterly perfect. It was everything that she had imagined a kiss of true love to be, whether this was true love or not. His lips moved from hers onto her cheeks, her nose, her closed eyelids, then back to her mouth. She sighed peacefully and he pulled slowly away. "How was that?" he asked, smirking despite himself.  
  
"Perfect," she whispered.  
  
"Now, to bed?" he asked, grinning. She laughed and got up on her knees so that she was almost the same height as him.  
  
"No, Draco, not now, I'm terribly sorry. Maybe next year or something." He sighed, disappointed. He had really thought that it would happen.  
  
"Ah, well, as you wish, my dear." He leaned forward yet again and pressed her down onto the bed; she giggled into his ear as her head nestled into a pillow. He moved around so that he was directly on top of her, and pressed his face into the mass of curly, cinnamon-red hair in between her shoulders and neck. He breathed in the sweet aroma; it smelled sweet, like flowers, but not overpowering, like Pansy always was. She sighed peacefully, her graceful fingers slowly running through the hair on the top of his head.  
  
After a peaceful period of time, he rolled away so that he was lying next to her, but she wriggled around so that her head was resting on his chest. He grinned to the ceiling. He turned off the lights with a wave of his wand and she slowly began to drift off into sleep, her head rising and falling with the movements of his chest. Though he tried, he couldn't fall asleep. He was thinking, his mind plagued by one single thought. What would he do with Ginny in the future?  
  
It was true, he had grown to love her. He loved the way she laughed, the sparkle in her eyes, the beauty of her red hair. He loved her vulnerability, and, pathetically, her weaknesses that made him feel and seem all the stronger. But, he was going to become a Death Eater. It wasn't just something that people wondered about, if he was going to join his Lord. It was a fact. Draco was going to follow in the footsteps of his father and become a great Death Eater, one of the most faithful to his Lord. Voldemort (he wasn't afraid of saying the name, most future Death Eaters weren't) was going to recognize him as one of the few Death Eaters who would follow him anywhere, whether it would lead him into Azkaban, or even death. He would stay strong.  
  
But he had only one year left of Hogwarts, and Ginny had two. It was going to be painful, him leaving after graduation, and her staying there without him. He would live, his heart was now immune to pain from girls, or so he assumed. But he doubted that she would do so well. He sort of assumed that she now leaned o him for protection and support. Well, maybe not support, but certainly for protection, as he had learned the night of the Yule Ball. But he was going to miss her. He really would.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
The rest of the school year passed uneventfully, with their relationship not going anywhere past the ordinary. He explained to her how he pretty much had a fate, how he couldn't ignore the future for him as a Death Eater, and, surprisingly, she accepted it without complaint or discouraging. Perhaps she just knew that it wasn't like he was going to change for her. He couldn't do that, he was a Malfoy, no matter how she didn't want to admit it.  
  
At the end of the year, they parted for the summer, with a secret little meeting out on the grounds. Ginny was tearful and sentimental, kissing him repeatedly, as though not wanting to let go, as if she was uncertain if she would ever find another true love after this. But Draco stayed strong and silent, forcing himself not to melt for her, in the summers heat. He felt as though his heart was bleeding, but he didn't let it show.  
  
Draco did promise Ginny that he would send her as many owls as he could, secretly, and that they would keep in touch. Well, he didn't keep his promise. Though he did send Ginny some beautiful and expensive jewelry that looked lovely on her for her birthday, he didn't send her a single owl. It was as though he wanted to forget her.  
  
Ron forgave Hermione, after a series of heart-wrenching (and in Ginny's eyes, rather pathetic) apologies on Hermione's part, and when she swore that she would never see Robbie again. Ron believed hr, of course, because Robbie had graduated that year, and it wasn't like they would still keep in touch. Ginny was surprised that Harry actually lived through the day that he had to say goodbye to Cho, on her graduation day. It looked as though Harry would just explode with wild tears right there as he watched her go. But anyone could see that it wasn't exactly goodbye for them; they would keep in touch. After all, they did pretty much swear their everlasting love to each other. Harry stayed half of the summer with the Weasleys and half of it with Sirius, and Hermione came to the Weasleys only for the past two months. Ginny didn't really mind, now that she and Ron were past their actual girlfriend and boyfriend stage.  
  
But it was true, the summer did change Draco and Ginny. When the school year started, she saw him occasionally in the halls, and she would smile at him, hoping to be recognized, or even dragged off somewhere for a kiss. But he would just stare distantly down at her, his icy eyes refusing to break and show any kind of emotion. It hurt Ginny, to realize that she had pretty much been forgotten, that he didn't want to pursue anything with her. But she had to accept it. She had to move on. And she did, they both did. Draco yet again had his share of Slytherin whores, and Ginny completely opened up to Will, and he was proud of her, it seemed that he cared more about her than anything else. But still, his gaze would haunt her, and she would remember the times that they had together. But then, she would remember what she was to him.  
  
She was just a memory.  
  
THE END  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Authors Note- Okay, majorly sucky ending, I'm really sorry, and I'll admit it. Yeah, that was the end of the entire story. Agh, that was really stupid. But you know what? I have some news for you. THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL. Yes, that's true, folks, there will be. I've already written the first two chapter, but, I need to confer with K-K, my advisor on these sorts of things, such as their occupations and such. So..yes, don't flame, but you can review. Just remember, there will be a sequel. Chant that in your head now, yes, good job. Chant with me. There will be a sequel...there will be a sequel...there will be a sequel...  
  
Hahus, Hahus, Hahus. (which is how you say Ha in latin. Hahaha.) Review!! ~Clare 


End file.
